The offense came alive on Tuesday night as Tennessee baseball welcomed Lipscomb into Lindsey Nelson Stadium for the midweek contest.
The offense came alive on Tuesday night as Tennessee baseball welcomed Lipscomb into Lindsey Nelson Stadium for the midweek contest.
The Vols jumped to an early first-inning lead and never lost control, defeating Lipscomb 14-4 in seven innings.
A six-run first inning got things started for the Vols (27-14, 8-10 SEC). It was never in doubt, even after starter Nic Abraham allowed a four-run response from Lipscomb (17-20, 10-8 ASUN) in the second inning.
Garrett Wright led the offense with an impressive 5-for-5 game at the plate, hitting two doubles and plating three RBIs on the night.
Abraham started the day with an impressive three-up, three-down inning, including a strikeout looking at the third batter. Yet, as has been a theme all season long for the Vols bullpen, Abraham encountered some issues in his next frame.
He survived the inning with four earned runs, but was replaced the next inning by Ethan Baiotto, who covered the next three innings with an impressive no-run, no-walk effort.
“Well, I think there are a lot of guys that we’re trying to mix and match. Again, like what (Will) Haas was able to do to come out, or Chandler Day, we just want them to get out there and compete,” Tennessee coach Josh Elander said. “And even Abraham has a really good first inning and gets tagged a little bit in the second, but he’s throwing the ball over the plate. We can live with that if we can play defense. And so I think again, Krenz, no walks tonight, attacking the strike zone. He’s a guy that we really believe in. Was a highly touted recruit. So, just need to keep stacking.”
Outside of the starting rotation and Cam Appenzeller, the Vols' arms have been far from reliable.
Entering the season, guys like Brayden Krenzel were projected for significant roles, but have struggled to find a consistent footing. Krenzel posted a clean sixth inning of work on Tuesday, striking out two during his outing.
Brady Frederick closed out the game for the Vols after Jax Bishop was worked into a jam with one out in the ninth. Frederick allowed a hit, but struck out the next batter before inducing a game-ending groundout.
While the pitching continued to flash its ups and downs, so did the bats.
There are currently six Vols hitters who have played in 18 conference contests, and only three of those hitters have an OPS over .750, including Blake Grimmer, Garrett Wright, and Reese Chapman.
Grimmer leads the charge with a 1.024 OPS in conference play, followed by Chapman with .850 and Wright hitting .765.
While those three have been reliable, the rest of the offense has been inconsistent, including big names like Blaine Brown, Manny Marin, Henry Ford, and Levi Clark.
Brown cashed in two hits on Tuesday night, his first multi-hit game since April 12 against Mississippi State, as well as his first hit since that date.
“Massive, massive. We need that,” Elander said. "We looked at some things with him yesterday on video. Credit to our staff for getting him in a good spot and really crushing the balls to left-center. That second arm that he faced – that drives that ball to left center. It was a 92-mile-an-hour heater running away. Just a good, short swing. Not trying to do too much.”
The Vols have three more midweeks and four more conference series in the regular season. Alabama comes to town on Thursday for the start of a three-game series against the Vols in a stretch that holds heavy postseason implications.