KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — No. 4 Tennessee had another chance to draw on some ninth-inning magic against the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks on Sunday afternoon, but this time, there was nothing left in the tank. The Vols lose the game and the series, 3-2 the final score.
Despite the loss, freshman Blade Tidwell stunned against the Hogs, going seven innings, striking out a career-high eight batters while giving up only two hits and two runs. Head coach Tony Vitello said after the game, his performance will surely add confidence, with one start left to go in the regular season and an entire postseason left to play.
"We played the best team in the country and they're that for a reason, they're really strong on both sides of the ball and on the offensive end, you don't really get a break throughout that lineup so to go that deep into the game against them, with the type of numbers, it probably hasn't been duplicated by many starting pitchers in our league," Vitello said.
Tennessee picked up its first two hits of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, and took the lead in the bottom of the fifth after Max Ferguson's groundout gave Pete Derkay a chance to score.
Arkansas responded by scoring a single run in the top of the seventh, eighth and ninth inning. A single from junior catcher Connor Pavolony cut the lead to one-run in the bottom of the ninth, but Tennessee couldn't push the final run across home plate.
It was a very close series, but a loss is still a loss, and Tennessee has moved far past the point of moral victories. Pavolony said he does see the growth in this team and program.
"It didn't go our way today and it didn't go our way against Vanderbilt on Sunday, but at the end of the day, we put the No. 1 team on the ropes for three days straight. That's something that I don't think we would have been able to say two years ago, three years ago. It's a game of inches, every pitch mattered and the No. 1 team was nervous at the end of the day for three days," Pavolony said.
After the final out, both head coaches, Vitello and Dave Van Horn, had an intense discussion on the field that led to both teams jawing at each other from their huddles. Vitello said it was poor timing on his part.
"He had some things to say, thought we did a good job and it was an excellent series and all that. Probably poor timing on my choice, but I brought up some off the field stuff that's really not a big issue," Vitello said.
Tennessee now falls to 18-9 in SEC play after the loss with one week to go. UT will host Belmont in its final home game before hitting the road to finish SEC play in a three-game series against South Carolina. Fortunately for Tennessee, Vanderbilt lost its final game of the series against Ole Miss on Sunday. The Commodores now sit at 17-9 with a home series against Kentucky to finish SEC play. Whoever ends its respective three-game series with a better record will most likely win the SEC East division and be the No. 2 seed in the SEC Tournament, barring a collapse from Arkansas in its final SEC series against Florida.
One more note of interest, according to Tennessee, 3,575 people were in attendance on Sunday, which is the largest crowd at Lindsey Nelson Stadium since March 30, 2007. 10,152 people attended the weekend series.