A nice response.
After taking a loss to open their SEC Tournament, Tennessee bounced back with a big win over Texas A&M.
Tony Vitello turned to Chris Stamos on the mound to start, then let AJ Causey work four innings. Both pitchers would give up one earned, but the Tennessee offense picked up the slack, and then some.
Texas A&M got on the board first in the top of the 3rd, as Gavin Grahovac went deep with a solo shot. But Tennessee quickly answered with a sacrifice fly to even the score at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning.
Christian Moore would give Tennessee the lead in the 4th inning, driving in a run on a groundout. The Volunteers could have had a lot more here with the bases loaded, but Ted Burton made a fantastic defensive play to limit the damage.
Kavares Tears gave Tennessee some insurance in the bottom of the 5th. After a failed hit and run, Tears doubled to drive in Dylan Dreiling to give Tennessee a 3-1 lead.
Texas A&M answered right back with a Jackson Appel homerun in the top of the 6th to bring us back to a one-run game.
It was Tears again in the bottom of the 7th, ripping a three-run shot over the wall to drive in Hunter Ensley and Dylan Dreiling. It was homerun No. 17 on the year for Tears, and it gave Tennessee a commanding 6-2 lead.
The Aggies weren’t quite done, however. Kirby Connell gave up an RBI double to Ted Burton. With runners on the corners, A&M couldn’t find anymore offensive juice. Connell danced out of trouble with Tennessee holding onto a 6-3 lead.
Cal Stark sent a solo shot out to start the bottom of the 8th, then Tennessee proceeded to load the bases, but couldn’t do anything with it.
It didn’t matter. Tennessee cruised to a 7-4 win over Texas A&M, eliminating the Aggies. They move on to face the loser of Vandy-Mississippi State tomorrow night in Hoover.
The game will take place approximately 30 minutes after Kentucky-SC/LSU, which is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. ET.