Tennessee baseball: Three takeaways from Vols’ SEC Tournament win vs. Vanderbilt

After being delayed for over 24 hours due to weather, top-seeded Tennessee baseball finally got to play its first SEC Tournament game. In the process, the Vols thrashed the Vanderbilt Commodores 10-1 to advance to the semifinals, winning all four games in the season series against them, none of which were at home.

Blade Tidwell got the start, and UT took a 1-0 lead in the first. They then broke it open with five runs in the third. With the win, they improve to 50-7 on the year. Vandy, meanwhile, who was the No. 8 seed in the tournament, falls to 36-20 on the season.

The Vols will next face the winner between the No. 12 seed Kentucky Wildcats and No. 4 seed LSU Tigers Friday. Vandy will next face the loser of that game in this double-elimination event. Here are three things we learned from Tennessee baseball’s win.

1. Every pitcher was dominant.

As mentioned, Tidwell got the start, and in just over four innings, he allowed only one earned run with three hits while striking out three and walking three. Kirby Connell pitched for one and two-thirds of an inning, allowing two hits and no runs while striking out two and walking one.

The final three innings saw three pitchers pitch a combined perfect game. Camden Sewell pitched just over one inning and didn’t allow a hit while striking out two. Will Mabrey and Ben Joyce came in as well, and neither allowed a hit while both struck out one. This was key to the game.

2. Runs were surprisingly manufactured.

Blake Burke hit a home run in the fifth, and Cortland Lawson hit one in the seventh. However, both were solo shots, so Tennessee baseball, after relying on power to score all year, actually manufactured lots of runs in this game. They still did it with extra base hits, as Jorel Ortega, Drew Gilbert and Evan Russell all drove in runs off doubles.

However, Seth Stephenson scored from first on Ortega’s double. Luc Lipcius had a sacrifice fly to drive in Trey Lipscomb. Lipcius drove in Russell after a groundout to second in the eighth. Give credit to Tony Vitello’s team, as they showed they have multiple ways to score.

3. Defensive gap made it a blowout.

Pitching was fine, and hitting did things differently. However, the Vols committed no errors on the night. Vanderbilt committed four. That broke this game open. UT had one unearned run, but more were after errors that had been committed in the game.

In the fourth, Seth Stephenson reached on an error, and he eventually made it home. Gilbert then advanced on a wild pitch in the eighth, which eventually got him to third and allowed him to reach home on a groundout. These players were a part of Tennessee baseball’s dominating night.