Vols baseball holds on to win 6-5 over Morehead State
Tennessee baseball was in control for most of its mid-week contest against Morehead State, but after a late furious rally by the Golden Eagles, the Vols held on, 6-5.
Tennessee concluded its six-game home stand on Wednesday afternoon with a 6-5 win over the Morehead State Golden Eagles at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Alex Harper-Cook began on the mound for the Vols, throwing three innings and allowing no runs on two hits.
Tennessee got on the board quickly after a two-run single from Benito Santiago. The Golden Eagles responded two innings later with a two-run double from Hunter Fain to tie the game.
It looked like the Vols were pulling away in the fifth inning when Vincent Jackson nailed an RBI that scored Nick Senzel and Chris Hall. Leno Ramirez tacked on another run with a single to right field, building Tennessee’s lead to 5-2 at the end of the fifth inning.
Not to be outdone, Morehead State then flexed its muscle with a comeback attempt that left many orange-clad fans feeling uneasy.
Jesus Carrera started things off with a single through the right side to bring Alex Stephens across, and Will Schneider advanced to first on an error, scoring both Carrera and Niko Hulsizer to tie the score at five apiece.
With two outs in the bottom of the eighth, Santiago made the play of the night, doubling to left field and bringing Max Bartlett across for the winning run.
Santiago finished the night going 3-for-5 from the plate with three RBIs.
Tennessee rotated through several pitchers throughout the game, going from Harper-Cook to Eric Freeman to Daniel Vasquez to Will Neely, all before finally bringing in Jon Lipinski in the eighth to close the game.
Lipinski and Neely gave solid showings for the Vols’ pitching staff, pitching 2.2 innings combined and allowing one run on two hits altogether.
Luke Humphreys, the starter on the mound for Morehead State, tossed 4.1 innings and allowed five runs on eight hits.
With this win, Tennessee now moves to 18-11 overall, along with a 9-2 record against the Eagles over the past decade.
Next, the Vols will put an end to its home stand and travel to No. 6 South Carolina for a three-game SEC series that will begins on April 8 and ends on April 10.
Each game will be available to view on the SEC+ Network stream.
Featured image by the Tennessee Journalist
Edited by David Bradford
Sports editor Jake Nichols has been part of the TNJN staff in two different capacities. His freshman and sophomore years, Jake worked as a staff writer before moving on to write for Rocky Top Insider, and he also worked with VFL Films and the SEC Network for a semester his junior year. When asked the summer before his senior year to return to TNJN as the sports editor, Jake jumped at the chance to end his time in Knoxville working with the organization he first began with as a freshman. Jake is excited to help lead younger writers, much like former editors Cody McClure and Jordan Dajani aided him. Jake also does freelance sports coverage and photography for The Mountain Press in Sevierville, Tenn., and in his spare time, he can be found with family, his girlfriend or driving his Jeep, most likely with his Canon in tow. Be sure and follow Jake on Twitter and Instagram at @jnichols_2121, and keep up with TNJN Sports on Twitter as well!
