Vols’ baseball run-rules its way to another win, this time in a 6-inning, 17-2 victory against Eastern Kentucky

Vols get their sixth win via run rule this year

Tennessee made short work of Eastern Kentucky tonight, needing just six innings for the 17-2 dub. Four Volunteers left the yard, which included a Cal Stark, hit a pinch-hit grand slam in the bottom of the sixth to cap off the evening.

Vitello used seven pitchers through the six and ¹⁄₂ innings, while senior lefty Zander Secrhist got the start. Sechrist worked 3.1 innings of one-hit ball while he walked none and struck out three of the 10 hitters he faced. He threw just 39 pitches, and 25 were strikes.

This was Sechrist’s second-straight outing as a mid-week starter, and he’s settled back into the mid-week Zander we know. His stat line in those two appearances: 9 IP, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 13 Ks.

Chris Stamos entered the game with two outs to go in the EKU half of the fourth, threw eight total pitches, got the final two outs and came home with his third win of the year. The grad student has appeared in 5 games and given up two total runs — in one game — and has an opponent’s batting average hovering at or under ,100.

Aside from Sechrist, no UT pitcher stayed in the game for a full inning except freshman Luke Payne, who finished the game with two Ks and no hits or runs against the minimum three batters. Payne tossed just 11 pitches — eight strikes — in his second appearance of the year.

Combined, Marcus Phillips, Kirby Connell, RS-FR righty Brady Robertson, from the mid-state area — (his first appearance of the season), and freshman Matthew Dallas pitched two innings and surrendered 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, and 1 BB with four Ks.

It was Phillips who had the roughest night, as he led off the T5 with a walk, three-straight singles and a passed ball. The third single and the passed ball gave EKU its two runs for the game. Phillips had a zero ERA in four outings prior to tonight.

The offense scored at least one run in every inning except the fifth, highlighted with home runs from:

Hunter Ensley — his second of the year and second-straight game leaving the park. Metrics: 357 feet, 28-degree launch angle, 101 exit velo.

Dylan Dreiling’s sixth home run of the season that traveled 333 feet with a 36-degree launch angle and a 97 MPH exit velo.

I think I highlighted how good Dreiling’s been of late, something Vol fans expected when he got here last year as a freshman. Regardless, pending the updated stats for the other guys on the team, he’s tied for third on the team in average (.365), fifth on the team in hits (20), tied for third in doubles (5), third in RBIs (17), fourth in total bases (44), fourth in OPS, second in walks and second in on-base percentage. Once the numbers from tonight’s game are updated, these may shift some, but still — he progressed into an integral piece of this order.

Another high-potential true sophomore — Kavares Tears — hit his fifth home run in the fourth and extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the first. Before tonight, he was first on the team with a .404 batting average, and his 2-2 outing tonight won’t hurt it. Home run stats: 389 feet, 29.5-degree launch angle and a 102 MPH exit velo.

Lead-off man Christian Moore went deep in the fourth with one man on base for his sixth home run of the year, which put him in a tie for second on the team. The home run stats: 398 feet, 27.2, launch angle and a 106-MPH exit velo.

That leaves us with Cal Stark’s home run — a grand slam which put the Vols at four grand slams over the last week, or in the previous six games. All four have been hit by different players, and this was just Stark’s second home run of the season. It traveled 391 feet with a 30-degree launch angle and a 106-MPH exit velocity.

Tennessee returns to LNS to kickoff SEC play against the Alabama Crimson Tide this Friday at 7 PM EST.