Tennessee baseball loses two of three at Kentucky: Three takeaways

Well, the Kentucky Wildcats finally beat Tennessee baseball at something. Ironically, it happens to be the one sport with the widest game between the two teams in terms of who is better, with UT having the edge. Bad weather and a postponed game will shake things up, though. Still, they clinched a share of the SEC East with one win this past weekend.

Tony Vitello’s team, ranked No. 1 across the board, lost 3-2 in extra innings Thursday to kick off the series, blowing a two-run lead by allowing two homers in the fourth. Friday’s game was postponed midway through and finished Saturday. UT lost 5-2. On Sunday, they finally rebounded with five runs in the final two innings to win 7-2 in a seven-inning game.

Rocky Top is now 41-6 and 20-4 in SEC play with a visit from the Bellarmine Knights set for Tuesday before next week’s series against the Georgia Bulldogs. Kentucky is 26-21 and 9-15 in SEC play with the Eastern Kentucky Colonels next Tuesday and the Ole Miss Rebels at home next weekend. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee baseball’s Lexington, Ky., series.

1. Power hitting disappeared until Sunday…and it proved costly.

This was a combination of the weather and the way Kentucky Proud Park is built. It made for a pitcher-friendly weekend. UT showed in a concerning way that without home runs, it can’t drive in runs. The Vols had no home runs the first two days and only 10 hits.

They had their chances, as UK walked 12 players Thursday and had two errors, but they stranded 16 runners. On the game Friday and into Saturday, they stranded seven runners. Finally, things came around Sunday, as Jordan Beck and Cortland Lawson both went long. Beck’s homer was a three-run shot in the seventh to truly break the game open.

2. Pitching excelled except for Blade Tidwell.

There was one bad inning by Chase Burns Thursday, the two solo shots he allowed in the fourth, but otherwise, he was fine. Mark McLaughlin allowed the game winner that night, but that was his only run allowed in nearly three innings. Offense is what cost Tennessee baseball both days.

Blade Tidwell, however, was the exception. He had a rough start Friday, allowing three runs in three innings. Chase Dollander was great that same day, though, striking out five and allowing no earned runs in four innings. Kirby Connell allowed a run, but it was meaningless. Drew Beam allowed just one earned run Saturday. Overall, this group was fine.

3. Defense was a problem amidst the bad weather.

Although pitching was good, defense fell apart again. To be fair, you can somewhat blame this on bad weather too, and they had no mistakes on Thursday. Still, they had two errors in the second and third games each, allowing an unearned run in both too. Saturday’s game didn’t impact that, but Friday’s game into Saturday did.

For the weekend, Tennessee baseball had a fielding percentage of .964, well below the standard they need to be at. Beck, Jorel Ortega and Evan Russell all had errors individually. This affected UT’s power pitching, and while it’s no excuse for the offense’s poor play, it didn’t help.