University of Tennessee Athletics
Vols Top Austin Peay, 4-2, in Scrimmage
November 02, 2014 | Baseball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee held Austin Peay State hitless through five innings on Sunday, taking a 4-2 win over the Governors at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Before an energetic crowd of Vol and inner-state rival Gov fans alike, the Volunteers debuted pitching depth, solid defense and consistent offense en route to their first victory of the 2014-2015 school year.
"We pitched tremendously well and that's important," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "Overall we played some good defense. We turned some great double plays and I thought the catching position did well with some blocks. Offensively, we started putting the ball in play on the ground and that's going to be the kind of offense we have when we move the baseball around the field and start making the other teams play defense. I was happy for it being the first game of the year. We're learning something about our team that we can go back to the drawing board and continue to build on."
Right-hander Bret Marks (2.0,0,1,0,1,3), who led the entire Alaska Baseball League this summer with 49 strikeouts in 42.2 innings, got the nod for the Vols and tossed 2.0 innings, fanning three of his eight total batters faced.
Lefty Drake Owenby (2.0,0,0,0,0,1) took over in the third and went 2.0 innings, facing the minimum against the Governors while recording one strikeout. Right-hander Kyle Serrano (2.0,1,0,0,1,1) then entered the game in the fifth frame for Tennessee and worked 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit from his seven batters to earn the win.
After being held hitless through four frames, Tennessee's offense put together a string of four runs on three hits in the fifth, led by second baseman Jeff Moberg (2-for-4) and left fielder Christin Stewart (2-for-4). Moberg led off the inning with a double to left field for the first Tennessee hit of the game. Right fielder and leadoff man Chris Hall (0-for-2, 2 HBP) was hit by a pitch to take first before shortstop A.J. Simcox (0-for-3, RBI) brought Moberg home on a suicide squeeze bunt. Stewart and designated hitter/right-hander Andrew Lee (1-for-1) went on to drive in three more runs, including Lee's two-run shot to center field, giving the Vols a 4-1 lead.
Following a solid 2.0 inning pitching performance from freshman lefty Zach Warren (2.0,1,0,0,1,1), Lee took the hill in the top of the ninth. After allowing a leadoff double to start the frame, Lee induced a fly-out to left field and struck out two batters to earn the save in the contest.
Among the positives taken away from the scrimmage, Serrano also noted the growing sense of leadership displayed from his returning player staff. With a roster boasting 13 newcomers, primarily freshmen, leadership is going to be an important piece to building a championship-level team moving forward.
"As of a couple of weeks ago, I think our returners are doing a good job of trying to take the leadership over," Serrano said. "We have enough guys that have been beaten down for the last two years. They see when there is talent on the field and there is the capability of being good. I think they're doing a good job of talking more out on defense and trying to communicate with the younger guys to make this game slow down for them."
Next week, Nov. 3-7, marks the final week of fall practice for the Tennessee Volunteers and will include an Orange and White World Series, a set of three intrasquad games scheduled for midweek. A detailed schedule of the series will be released in the coming days on UTSports.com. All games are free and open for the public to attend.
For the most up-to-date information, visit UTSports.com/Baseball, follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter and like the Vols on Facebook at Facebook.com/VolBaseball.
