RECAP: Vols baseball takes series against Georgia with 7-0 win Sunday

A much-needed performance from the pitchers

Zander Sechrist held the Georgia lineup, one that leads the nation in home runs and scored 27 runs in the two previous games of the series, to 4 H, 0 R, 1 BB in his six innings pitched, while the bottom three hitters in Tennessee’s lineup accounted for half of the Vols’ hits and four of its RBIs in the 7-0, series-clinching win.

After AJ Causey allowed eight runs (seven earned) in Friday’s loss, and Drew Beam gave up a season-high seven runs (four earned) in UT’s comeback win Saturday, Sechrist’s outing was a breath of fresh air, as there’s at least some warranted concern about Tennessee’s pitching. Given — baseball season doesn’t justify much worry this early, but with AJ Russell’s recent re-injury, Beam’s outings since SEC play began and prior to today’s game only Kirby Connell, Aaron Combs and Andrew Benhke had ERAs at or lower than 4.50 in conference games, a trepidatious outlook has still wriggled its way into my already pessimistic mind. One must keep context in mind, as TN has played just three SEC series and no bulllpen arm has pitched more innings than Nate Snead’s 14.1, so the small sample size should be considered.

Sechrist and Snead — the latter of which pitched the final three innings in relief — held the Bulldogs’ lineup to 0-10 in two-out scenarios and 1-4 with runners in scoring position. The duo stopped the six runners who got on base from crossing home plate and kept UGA’s Corey Collins and Charlie Condon to a combined 1-8 with three strikeouts.

Tennessee’s long-time, reliable midweek starter retired the side in order in the first, struck out the side in second, didn’t allow a baserunner until the third, on an error, and didn’t give up a hit until the top of the fourth.

Zander wasn’t without help, as he allowed three-straight singles in the T4. The third hit sailed over Dreiling’s head in left, but he threw a dart to Dean Curley, who lasered in the relay so Cal Stark could apply the tag in time to get the runner at home.

The offense didn’t get rolling until its chance in the bottom of the fourth, when Kavares Tears hit a ground-rule double to start the inning, which Dylan Dreiling followed with a single. Dreiling stole second, which put two Vols in scoring position. Both runners advanced on a UGA balk, which plated Tears and set up Dreiling to score on the next at bat via a Reese Chapman sac fly.

A Dalton Bargo solo home run added one more to the lead and made it a 3-0 in the fifth on his fourth long ball of the season. Bargo got the start at third, with Vitello opting for more pop in the lineup by putting Curley back at shortstop in place of Ariel Antigua.

Bargo, who was the No. 1- rated catcher in Nebraska for the 2022 recruiting cycle when he signed with Missouri and played in 43 games his freshman season. Bargo was ranked as the 41st-best transfer prospect in the country and fourth-highest rated player the Vols’ portal haul, which sat behind just two teams in the NCAA according to D1Baseball, via 247Sports. He’s been indispensable off the bench, given his ability to play multiple positions in the infield and come up with timely, productive pinch-hit at bats, including the pinch-hit grand slam Saturday that reclaimed the Vols’ lead and effectively sealed the win.

He pulled this one way past the short porch in right, with the ball going 345 feet at 106 MPH with a 30-degree launch angle.

Snead took over in the seventh, and induced a double play from the first batter he faced then got a highlight-reel catch from Hunter Ensley in center to end the inning.

Blake Burke led off the seventh with a single, and two outs later Dreiling doubled, Curley drew a walk and Chapman got hit by a pitch, which forced the runners to advance and plated Burke. Ensley added insurance to the 4-0 lead with a two-run double.

The offense put one up one more run in the eighth thanks to Christian Moore reaching base on an error to lead off the frame and a wild pitch that followed that got him in scoring position. Tears, the next hitter, brought Moore home with a first-pitch single. Tears went 3-5 for the day, and Bargo and he were the only Vols in the meat of the lineup with more than one hit.

Snead’s performance in his final three innings earned him his second save of the season. He gave up just two hits, didn’t walk a batter and struck out one. He faced 10 batters, just one over the minimum, and threw 24 of his 36 pitches for strikes. Snead had allowed eight runs in four SEC appearances before today, so it was a good bounce-back outing for the Vols’ inning eater.

UT moved to 5-4 in SEC play with the win and to 24-5 overall.

There’s no midweek game this go around, and the Vols will play again on Friday, at Auburn, with a 7 PM EST scheduled start time.