Tennessee swings and misses on the sweep, the Vanderbilt pitching staff strikes out 14 and holds the UT offense to just three hits in Vandy’s 3-0 win.

Tennessee’s bats had no answers for Vanderbilt’s complement of pitchers, as the bats went scoreless with just three hits, though the bullpen pitchers tossed six frames of scoreless ball, during the Commodores’ 3-0 win — one that snatched away the Vols’ chance for sweep.

To start the game, Commodore starter JD Thompson sat Tennessee’s bats down in order, striking out the side in the process, and Vols’ starter Zander Sechrist struck out the first two batters he faced and looked like he was cruising to an easy, 1-2-3 start to the game.

But RJ Austin needed four pitches to punch a single into right field, and cleanup hitter Alan Espinal blasted the first pitch he saw over the fence in right for a two-run home run to put Vandy out to a quick 2-0 lead.

Sechrist ended the half inning with another strikeout, giving him three in the first inning, but he didn’t get any help from the offense in the top of the second, either. Thompson allowed a one-out single to Dylan Dreiling, but Hunter Ensley hit a ground ball that turned into a 4-3 double play, similar to the play from yesterday’s game when a Vandy hitter smoked a ball straight to Christian Moore at second who doubled off the man at first who’d strayed too far from first base.

A single led off the B2, then Sechrist got an out before he gave up a four-pitch walk to put two men on with just one out. Tennessee’s long-time midweek starter got another out but then served up a pitch that went for a run-scoring single. Again, Sechrist got the final out, this time on a first-pitch ground out, to strand two runners and keep the Vandy lead at 3-0, which is typically not enough space for any breathing room against this Volunteer offense.

The Vols got their second base runner in the top of the third on a one-out walk to Robin Villeneuve. Thompson quickly got Cal Stark and Christian Moore into 0-2 counts and got a strikeout and a flyball-out, respectively, to end the top of the top half of the frame.

Snead got the ball going into the bottom half of the frame and despite a one-out double, he faced just four batters, kept the Commodores from adding to their lead and got a strikeout on a full-count, 97 MPH heater.

Snead allowed two-straight infield singles to lead off the bottom of the fourth, and then a two-out walk that left the bases full of Commodores. But a nice play from Snead to beat the runner to first while Burke fielded the ball got the final out, and the Vols dodged a bullet with the VU leaving three men on base.

Thompson worked through the sixth and had a one-hitter going until he surrendered a single to Dreiling and a Hunter Ensley HBP in the seventh, when Tim Corbin took him out for Devin Futrell, who’s spent most of his career as a starter with a career ERA of 3.83. He’s battled injuries this year, but he had no trouble running through the Vols’ lineup, primarily using a nasty changeup.

Futrell struck out Curely, Peebles and Stark to strand two runners on base with only six outs remaining for the Vols. To this point, the Vandy pitchers had tossed 7 IP, allowed just 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB and 12 strikeouts.

The Tennessee pitchers held their own after the early three runs from Vanderbilt, as Nate Snead came in and settled things down with 4.1 IP, 5 H 0 R, 3 BB and 4 Ks.

With the one out in the B7, Vitello took Snead out in favor of the sophomore lefty, Andrew Behnke. Prior to today’s game, Behnke had a 3.57 ERA in 14 appearances with 24 Ks and just four walks.

Behnke got a strikeout and a fly-ball out to end the bottom half of the frame.

Futrell faced the top of the lineup in the eighth, but got Moore, Blake Burke and Billy Amick to each fly out on a combined eight pitches.

In the ninth, Futrell K’d. Tears, going to his fastball with some pinpoint accuracy. Dreiling managed a single on an 0-1 pitch, which was the third hit of the day for Dreiling, who, to this point, had every hit for the Vols’ offense. Hensley reached on a fielder’s choice, but Vandy got the lead runner and Curley got a diet of fastballs and changeups before he struck out looking.

For the game, Moore, Burke, Amick and Kavares Tears combined to go 0-15 with six strikeouts.

Sunday marked Tennessee’s first shut-out loss of the season, broke the Vols’ four-game winning streak and put UT a half-game back of Kentucky for first in the SEC standings. The UT pitching staff was good enough to get a win today — Secrhrist, Snead, Behnke and Connell combined for 8 IP, 3 Rs, 2 BB, 8 Ks with just three extra-base hits.

But Vandy’s pitching was better, and the offense didn’t take advantages of its opportunities. Tennessee’s bats went 0-8 in chances with two outs, disappeared into an 0-13 performance with runners on base while the leadoff men were held to just 2-9 at the plate.

After taking two of three games from Vanderbilt, Tennessee comes back to LNS for its final midweek game of the year against Belmont, with first pitch scheduled for 5 PM EST Tuesday. The last weekend series welcomes the South Carolina Gamecocks to town with the first game starting Thursday 6:30 PM EST. USC is 33-18 overall but just 13-14 in SEC play.