CLEMSON, S.C. — Tennessee baseball piled it on over Charlotte to earn a convincing win in their first game of the Clemson Regional on Friday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C.
The big bats of Christian Moore and Griffin Merritt fueled the Vols' 8-1 victory over the 49ers, and Tennessee starting pitcher and Charlotte transfer Andrew Lindsey was locked in on the mound in the Vols' start to NCAA Tournament play.
Lindsey faced an early two-out, bases-loaded jam against his former team in the first inning. Lindsey escaped the threat with his third strikeout of the inning but closed the first having already thrown 30 pitches.
The UT starter turned in a stellar performance over seven innings in the victory. He threw 116 pitched and struck out ten batters while allowing five hits. His lone earned run came when former Vol Austin Knight hit a solo home run in the seventh inning.
The Big Orange bats were hot from the start, and the UT scoring began in the bottom of the first inning when Christian Moore slapped a two-out double to right center and pick up a pair of RBIs to get UT ahead 2-0 after one.
Tennessee plated another pair of runs in the second inning. Maui Ahuna brought Christian Scott home with an RBI single, and then Jared Dickey scored Cal Stark with a single to right field as the Vols doubled their lead to 4-0 over the 49ers.
UT continued its consistent scoring effort with a pair of home runs over the next two innings. Christian Moore tallied his third RBI of the night with a solo home run to chase Charlotte starter Collin Kramer off the mound in the third, and then Griffin Merritt's 18th homer of the season tacked on three more runs for an 8-0 Tennessee advantage.
The bullpen staff of Zander Sechrist, Aaron Combs, Kirby Connell and Hollis Fanning held it down over the final two innings to seal the win for Tennessee.
Tennessee will play host Clemson in the winner's bracket matchup on Saturday, June 3 at 6 p.m.
