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Tennessee Baseball: Vols Choke in Terrible Loss to Alabama State Hornets

By Caleb Calhoun

Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers mascot carries the flag through the fans during Vol Walk prior to the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 12, 2015; Knoxville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers mascot carries the flag through the fans during Vol Walk prior to the game against the Oklahoma Sooners at Neyland Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tennessee baseball suffered an embarrassing 3-0 loss against the Alabama State Hornets Wednesday night, further hurting their chances with a stretch run.

Just as we were about to say the Tennessee Vols could be getting on a stretch run after a late win against the Eastern Kentucky Colonels Tuesday night and two straight against the No. 4 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores this past weekend, they managed to choke away a terrible loss.

Against the Alabama State Hornets, Dave Serrano’s Tennessee baseball team fell to 24-18 after Alex Harper-Cook allowed three runs in the second inning. The offense was getting guys on base, but nobody was able to drive in runs, something that plagued the Vols particularly early in the game.

Derek Lance and Vincent Jackson were a combined 5-for-6, and Lance was also walked one time, but amidst all of that, they could never close the deal at the plate. That was an embarrassment for Serrano and this team, which bases everything it does offensively on aggression and making sure to get home if they get on base.

As a result of that spectacular failure, the one hot second inning was enough for the Hornets, as they were able to move to 27-14 on the year.

Make no mistake, this was a bad loss all the way around. Tennessee had little room for error when it came to trying to reach the NCAA Tournament, and a series win vs Vanderbilt last Saturday opened opportunities for them. After all, they had these midweek games, and then they got to face a bad Missouri Tigers team this weekend to hopefully get on a run.

Now, that run has been unfortunately interrupted by an SWAC team that has no business competing with Tennessee at Linsdey Nelson Stadium. The road to the NCAA Tournament, and Serrano keeping his job, just got that much tougher with this loss.

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