UT’s bats wake up in a big way, plate runs in 6 of 9 innings, beat Baylor 11-5

Vols finish the weekend 2-1

The Vols came out of the first inning down 2-0, despite a two-out walk from Christian Moore and a subsequent steal of second base, as Dylan Bargo struck out to end the top of the first.

Former midweek starter Zander Sechrist got the weekend start, and Baylor jumped on him immediately for a leadoff single, a run-scoring double, a walk and a fielder’s choice that scored another run. The Bears stranded a runner but left the inning with the lead.

That would be the last zero the bats would put up until the eighth inning, and the barrage started with two walks — one from Cannon Peebles and another from Brandon Lohry (with another Blake Burke strikeout in between) — and a Kavares Tears opposite-field, three-run blast,

One pitch, three runs and a 3-2 Vols’ lead.

Sechrist came out again to work the second, but Baylor hit another home run to tie up the game again, and it kinda felt like that might be it for UT’s senior lefty.

To start the third, a one-out walk followed by a one-out single from Moore and Bargo, respectively, set the table for a two-run triple for Billy Amick.

The Vols weren’t quite finished, as Peebles scored Amick on a sac fly before Burke struck out, again, to end the half inning.

Triple-digit throwing, highly-sought after transfer from Wichita State Nate Snead made his Tennessee debut in the bottom of the third and hit triple digits on his first pitch, Snead labored through the half inning a bit, walking two straight before serving up a 2-2, bases-clearing triple.

Snead walked the next batter, who stole second, but limited the damage at just two when he struck out the final batter of the inning on a 1-2 pitch.

The Vols looked like they might have a quiet inning in the fourth, but Tears ripped a one-out single to left and Hunter Ensley reached first on a throwing error by Baylor’s shortstop. Dreiling flew out but advanced Tears to third, and Christian Moore hammered a ball to left for a two-run double.

So much for that quiet inning, huh? Bargo struck out to end the half inning, but the damage was done, and UT scored two runs on two hits that gave it an 8-5 lead.

Snead needed just five pitches to finish off the fourth, getting all three Bears he faced to fly out. Just the inning we Sneaded (groan).

The Vols put up one run in the fifth, thanks again to Billy Amick — this time on a homer to left that ended up in the upper deck and traveling 425 feet after leaving the bat at 113 MPH:

UT added one more run in the sixth and the seventh — in the sixth, Cmo led the frame off with a double to left-centerfield and advanced to third on a wild pitch. That set the table for Amick’s third RBI of the game when he plated Moore while hitting into a double play. Even when Amick does something wrong, he does it right. Question: has anyone seen Superman, Clark Kent and Amick ever in the same room together?

The seventh inning saw Burke’s second hit of the game, followed by a Robin Villenueve pinch-hit single that Dreiling, after two outs, followed with a single that scored Burke. 11-5 Vols after 7.5 innings.

Nate Snead really settled in after the shaky start, and he was a big reason the Vols built up the six-run lead. After he mowed through the fourth, He gave up 1 H and 0 runs in the fifth, with some help from his defense:

I could be wrong — it happens so, so much, but If i recall correctly, Ensley wasn’t the most natural center fielder when he got here. But his instincts have developed so much, and while he’s not the fastest guy in the world, his functional speed out there is off the charts, He’s become a real asset to the defense.

The bottom of the seventh is when we saw Snead start to struggle again, giving up a first-pitch single and a four-pitch walk, back-to-back. After another double play moved a BU player into scoring position, Snead went up in the zone and recorded his fourth K on a 94 MPH fastball.

Both teams went down without any action in the eighth, though we saw Snead’s night end in favor of Chris Stamos. He needed just six pitches to get two strikeouts and a grounder to third.

The contest ended without incident — though UT stranded two runners in the top half of the ninth, while Stamos struck out two around a full-count walk. He ended his night with 2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB and 4 Ks. 19 of his 27 pitches went for strikes.

Eight of the 12 Vols who played had a hit, while Tears and Amick went 2-4 with three RBIs while Dreiling went 2-4 with two RBIs.

UT returns to Knoxville for its home opener on Tuesday to face UNC Asheville at 4:30 PM.