The 2025 baseball freshman class made its mark against Bellarmine on Tuesday night.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- The 2025 freshman class made its mark against Bellarmine on Tuesday night.
Led by now sophomores Manny Marin and Levi Clark, the Vols pushed through some early game offensive struggles as they defeated Bellarmine 8-3.
One of the game's biggest storylines was the start at second base, which went to Brent Finley over Marin, despite Marin being healed from a hand injury that occurred near the start of the season.
Marin instead played as a backup second baseman on Tuesday, yet his presence was felt. With the Vols (6-2) leading by just one through the first seven innings, Marin sent a ball deep to left field, over the head of the outfielder and into the bleachers.
The Marin home run put the Vols up three over Bellarmine (2-6) in the bottom of the seventh, but Marin’s big swing only began the rally.
"It was great. I think it was needed to say the least,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said. “I mean, again, didn't have a great weekend. Was messing with the hand, getting back, and then again, just taking a really good swing. It was good to see him drive a ball.
"(I'm trying) to challenge him. He's not in the starting lineup to start the day and goes out there and hits a homer, and dives and keeps the ball in the infield. So it's good to see him do that tonight."
Marin’s numbers after the home run still show plenty of signs for growth, but that is now trending upwards.
Over 16 at-bats, Marin owns a batting average of .250 with an OPS of .778. The home run was his first of the season and just his fourth career long ball.
“Definitely felt good,” Marin said. “I had to stay warm, for sure, but it felt good.”
It was a cold night at the revamped Lindsey Nelson Stadium; the temperature around the final pitch was in the low 30s, but it felt like the offense only heated up as the air grew colder.
After Marin’s home run, Clark threw a fielding error, which allowed Jay Abernathy, another sophomore, to score the fourth run.
Another wild pitch scored another run, before Blaine Brown put the exclamation mark on the game with a three-run home run to put the Vols up by five.
“I think we grew a lot as a class from that experience last year, " Clark said. “Your freshman year, everything can be a little timid, but coming back, you feel a lot more confident and have your feet under you.”
Clark joined Marin as two bats struggling to find their footing through the first eight games of the season.
Despite the slow start, now is the time to build on these reps and capitalize on the opportunities.
"Well, it's baseball, right?” Elander said. “You're going to have a little bit of everything, right? I mean, in a perfect world, we'd score five, six every inning, but that's not how the game works. So again, I think one thing that's important is that we get the leadoff guy on. Our guys, our mentality needs to be that's a run regardless of who we're facing. And again, in scoring position, not trying to do too much. Again, just what is our plan? How do we execute?”
The team’s next opportunity comes against perhaps their toughest battles yet this season, meetings against UCLA, Arizona State, and Virginia Tech in that order. Game one against No. 1 UCLA is on Friday at 4 pm ET.