HOOVER, Ala. — No. 1 Tennessee Baseball's SEC Tournament run did not begin on a good note in Wednesday night's lopsided loss to eighth-seeded Vanderbilt at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.
The Vols used eight different pitchers, but Vandy's hot bats tallied 15 hits and four home runs in a convincing 13-4 win against Tennessee and sent the Vols to the losers' bracket, where they will be one game away from elimination.
The Vols struck first in the bottom of the second inning when Hunter Ensley sent a double to right center field to score Dylan Dreiling and put Tennessee up 1-0, but Tennessee couldn't do any more damage and recorded three straight outs to end the frame.
Tennessee pitcher Nate Snead made his first start as a Vol in the game, and he enjoyed success in the first two innings of the contest before the Vanderbilt offense got to him.
Snead began the third inning with a strikeout but then walked the next batter and allowed a double right after. The Commodores scored their first run of the game on a wild pitch to even the score at 1-1 and added more runs on an RBI double and a three-run home run from Alan Espinal as Vanderbilt took a 5-1 lead and ended Snead's day.
Vanderbilt added another run in the fourth inning when Behnke let up an RBI single and the deficit increased to 6-1 before freshman pitcher Dylan Loy entered the game.
Tennessee found a big response in the bottom of the frame courtesy of Reese Chapman. Kavares Tears hit a two-out single and Dean Curley drew a walk, then Chapman sent everyone around with a three-run shot to right field to make it a 6-4 game.
The Commodores tacked on an insurance run in the fifth inning courtesy of an RBI groundout, the Vols limited any further damage when pitcher Kirby Connell and catcher Cal Stark made a heads-up play to catch a runner trying to steal home and get out of the inning down 7-4.
In the later innings, Vandy broke the game wide open with big home runs. Espinal hammered his second long ball of the night with a two-run home run in the seventh inning off of Marcus Phillips to make it 9-4, and then Jonathan Vastine took Matthew Dallas deep in the eighth for another three runs and a 12-4 Commodore lead.
The Commodores crushed one more home run for good measure in the top of the ninth, when Colin Barczi hit a solo shot to make it 13-4.
Tennessee gets knocked down to the losers' bracket, which means the Vols will have to win four games in four days to capture the SEC title. Tennessee will play the loser of No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 5 Mississippi State in the second game on the schedule on Friday.
