KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 8/15 Tennessee battled back on numerous occasions but was unable to complete its comeback bid in Sunday’s 7-5 loss to No. 10/11 Vanderbilt at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Vols (39-13, 15-12 SEC) evened the score three separate times after falling behind and nearly did it for a fourth time, but left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning to end the game.
UT outhit the Commodores, 11-9, but stranded 12 runners on base in the loss. Andrew Fischer led the Big Orange with three RBIs after hitting a pair of home runs to give him 20 for the year, which leads the SEC.
Hunter Ensley (2-for-4, 1 run), Dalton Bargo (3-for-5) and Dean Curley (2-for-5, 1 run, 1 RBI) also had multi-hit performances for the Vols.
Colin Barczi provided much of the offense for Vanderbilt (36-16, 16-11 SEC) with three hits and three RBIs, including two round trippers of his own.
Another Weather Delay
For the third straight weekend, Tennessee had to battle the weather. Sunday’s game went into a two-hour delay with two outs in the top of the six inning.
After allowing a solo home run to the first batter following the resumption of play, the Vols responded well with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull back within a run.
Missed Opportunities Late
UT had a couple of chances to pull even in the late innings but came away empty on both occasions.
The Vols had a runner on second with nobody out in the seventh, but a pair of groundouts and a flyout ended the threat.
After going down in order in the eighth inning and allowing the Commodores to extend their lead with another solo homer in the top of the ninth, the Vols to give themselves a chance to win the game in the bottom of the ninth.
Ensley led off the frame with a single before moving to second on a Curley base knock with one out. Blake Grimmer nearly walked it off with a three-run homer, but his deep fly ball was caught on the warning track in dead center field for the second out.
After a walk by Levi Clark to load the bases, Vandy reliever Ethan McElvain was able to strike out Cannon Peebles to end the game and earn his first save.
Up Next
Tennessee closes out its regular-season home slate on Tuesday against Belmont at 5 p.m. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
