University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Morehead State
UT Falls to Morehead State, 11-8
March 11, 2015 | Baseball
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee overcame an early five-run deficit to tie the game against Morehead State at 6-6 in the sixth, but the Eagles put together a late rally to soar past the Volunteers, 11-8, on Wednesday evening at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
With the loss, Tennessee moves to 7-6 on the year and 32-3 in their all-time matchups against Morehead State. The loss snaps a five-game win streak the Vols held over the Eagles, dating back to Feb. 22, 2008.
"We've kind of got to get out of our own ways," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "I told the team if I've done it, or my coaching staff has done it, putting too high of expectations for what this team's supposed to do and it's led to pressure on these guys, I apologize to them but in a sarcastic way. We want to be good. That's why I came here, to be good. They've got to want to be good too. You've got to still play this game having fun. I'm not sure we're having fun right now. We're putting too much pressure on ourselves to have to do something when all we're really asking them to do is take an at bat and give us a quality at bat.
"I did credit the team for fighting in the end," Serrano said. "It gets frustrating at times. It starts on the mound. We didn't pitch well tonight. With this pitching staff when you score eight runs we should win games, whether it's a weekend game or a mid-week game. I did give credit where we did fight and claw to the end, but we just gave away too much too early."
Tennessee (7-6) put its gritty offense back to work early, as center fielder Vincent Jackson led off the first inning with a single to left field. Shortstop A.J. Simcox moved Jackson to second with a sacrifice bunt in the next at-bat. Jackson then stole third and came around to score on a throwing error by Morehead State's catcher Jimmy Wright, evening the score at 1-1.
Eagles first baseman Kane Sweeney hit a solo home run to right-center field in the third for the go-ahead run before Tennessee created their first big opportunity. Jackson and Simcox began the Vols' frame with back-to-back walks and committed a double steal, moving to second and third. The Vols suffered strikeouts from second baseman Nick Senzel and left fielder Christin Stewart before first baseman Nathaniel Maggio took a free pass to load the bases. With two outs, designated hitter Andrew Lee put a hard swing on an inside pitch down the first base line, but MSU's Sweeney was there to end the rally.
Morehead State kept swinging in the fourth, plating four runs to take a 6-1 lead. Tennessee began chipping away at the lead in the next inning, as Simcox reached on an infield single and came around to score thanks to an RBI-single by Stewart.
The Vols kept the rally going in the sixth, with Maggio taking a leadoff walk. Lee then ripped one down the right field line for an RBI-triple to narrow the UT deficit. Third baseman Jeff Moberg grounded out to the shortstop in the next at-bat but Lee came across to score, making it a two-run ballgame. Catcher Benito Santiago and Jackson used disciplined at-bats to put runners on base before Senzel blasted a two-run single to right field, tying the game at 6-6.
The Eagles went on to score four runs in the eighth, taking an 11-6 lead over the Volunteers. Again, Tennessee fought back and rallied for two runs in the frame, initiated by an infield bunt single from Brodie Leftridge. Jackson knocked another single to left for a base hit, followed by an RBI-single by Nick Senzel to score Leftridge. Tennessee went on to load the bases twice with two outs in the inning but the offense fell short.
From the mound, freshman lefthander Zach Warren made his first official start for Tennessee against the Eagles, allowing four runs on three hits over 3.2 innings of work.
In relief, righthander Peter Lenstrohm entered the game in the fourth and went 2.2 innings, allowing two runs on three hits in the outing. Freshman righty Jacob Westphal made his second appearance of the season in the seventh and recorded his first career strikeout before lefty Andy Cox entered in the top of the eighth.
Righthander Steven Kane was then called upon to take the place of Cox, making his second appearance in as many nights, pitched 1.2 scoreless innings to hold the Eagles through the end of the game.
Tennessee travels to face the Florida Gators to open 2015 SEC play this weekend, Friday, March 13 - Sunday, March 15. The Vols then return home to host Austin Peay (March 17) and the SEC home opener at Lindsey Nelson Stadium against the Georgia Bulldogs (March 20-22).
"[Tonight was] a tough loss, but you can't hang your head," said sophomore Nick Senzel "They're going to be a good team this weekend, we know that. We knew that last year, and they're the number one team in the country for a reason. We're going to have to come ready to play. They're not just going to roll down for us and feel sorry for us because we're losing ball games. That's not what a good team like Florida does. We're going to have to play our best baseball. We're going to have to start Friday night and hopefully we carry some momentum, win a series and go from there."
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