Tennessee hosted Texas in the final game of the series after winning the first two games in controlling fashion. Sunday’s game belonged to Texas, however. After an explosive first inning from both offenses, Texas took control and went on to win 13-6.
After Landon Mack was scratched from his usual Sunday starting role due to general arm soreness, Josh Elander sent Taylor Tracey to the mound for Tennessee. Tracey entered with a 1.45 ERA over 14 appearances (four starts) this season but had logged only 1 1/3 innings in SEC play.
Tracey retired the first two Texas hitters on weak fly balls, but after a hit-by-pitch and a walk, things began to unravel. Adrian Rodriguez launched a three-run home run into Tennessee’s bullpen in right field to give Texas an early 3-0 lead. Casey Borba followed immediately with a solo home run to left, extending the lead to 4-0. Tracey did not record another out in the inning, and Chandler Day came out of the bullpen to get the final out of the first.
Tennessee answered quickly in the bottom of the first. After the first three Volunteers reached base safely, Tennessee had a chance to tie or take the lead with a big inning.
A flyout to shallow left and a weak groundout back to the pitcher kept Tennessee off the board early, but it set up Reese Chapman for a major moment on senior night. Chapman delivered, driving a low line drive to right field that cleared the wall for his second grand slam of the season and fourth of his college career, tying the game at 4-4.
“[Chapman is] an easy guy to root for and a true Volunteer,” Elander said. “He’s just a special player, just elite makeup, and he just gets better.”
Elander also praised the offense for responding quickly and “hitting the reset button.”
Texas’ pitching settled in after the first inning, holding Tennessee scoreless over the next four frames. Texas’ starter recovered from the early damage, finishing with four runs allowed on three hits and two walks while striking out four over four innings. Flamethrowing right-hander Thomas Burns was the first reliever out of the bullpen, using an upper-90s fastball and sharp pitch mix to strike out three Tennessee hitters in a dominant fifth inning.
Texas’ offense kept applying pressure throughout the game. In the third inning, Anthony Pack Jr. led off with a home run to retake the lead. Later in the inning, Borba added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly to right field. In the fifth, Texas added another run on an RBI fielder’s choice to shortstop to extend its lead to 7-4.
In the sixth inning, Texas broke the game open with a five-run outburst. After Brayden Krenzel entered in relief for Tennessee and retired the first two batters, he issued two walks and allowed an RBI single to bring in the first run of the inning. Elander then intentionally walked Rodriguez to set up a right-on-right matchup between Bo Rhudy and Borba. Borba won the battle, launching a grand slam to left field to extend the lead to 12-4.
Tennessee responded in the bottom of the sixth against Burns. After a leadoff walk by Levi Clark, Chapman delivered again, battling through a 12-pitch at-bat before homering for the second time in the game to cut the deficit to 12-6. Haiden Leffew entered from the Texas bullpen to limit further damage and held Tennessee to just the two runs.
“Anybody should be able to come in and compete over the white and give us a chance,” Elander said. “We didn’t get that done [in the sixth inning], and then they’re able to blow it open with a big swing off Rhudy. They forced our hand getting [Rhudy] in a little bit earlier than we wanted to, but we just need to come out with a little more conviction.”
After both offenses went quiet in the seventh and eighth innings, Ethan Baiotto entered in the ninth for Tennessee. He struggled with command, walking two batters, but worked around it and allowed just one run on an RBI groundout that extended Texas’ lead to 13-6.
After the game, Elander expressed disappointment in Tennessee’s pitching staff, pointing to 10 walks, four home runs allowed and nine runs surrendered with two outs.
Tennessee’s offense was unable to mount a late rally against Texas’ bullpen and dropped the series finale.
Tennessee will host Belmont in its final home game of the regular season Tuesday, May 12. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET.
