Tennessee shuts out Tennessee Tech in 6-0 victory

Following the weekend sweep against Mississippi State, Tennessee managed to get back in the win column on Tuesday with a 6-0 win over Tennessee Tech.

Offensively, a pair of two-run home runs by Jordan Rodgers and Dom Thornton gave the Vols an early 4-0 lead.

Rodgers’ blast came in the first inning, giving Tennessee the early momentum and a lead following its first at-bat of the game. His home run scored Justin Ammons, who led the game off with a walk. The two RBIs gives Rodgers 19 on the season, which is a team high.

Thornton’s long ball came in the fourth inning, marking his third home run in the last four games. After leading off the inning with a single, Pete Derkay scored on Tennessee’s second home run of the game. Derkay went 2-3 during Tuesday night’s game.

On the mound, a combined five Tennessee pitchers’ contributed to the shutout. Not only did they keep the Golden Eagles off the board, but they allowed only four total hits.

Freshman Zach Linginfelter made his third career start on Tuesday and faced the minimum in his two innings of work. Earning the win, he also notched two strikeouts.

Sophomore Will Neely came on in relief for Linginfelter and extended the no-hit bid through the third inning before giving up a lead-off hit in the fourth. On the day, Neely pitched three innings, allowing only one hit and striking out two hitters.

The Vols added two more runs of insurance in the bottom half of the eighth to extend their lead to six. Reggie Southall’s double to left field scored Benito Santiago, who reached on a single, to give Tennessee a 5-0 lead. Brodie Leftridge followed with an RBI single, driving in Southall. Leftridge finished the day 2-4, joining Derkay at the only players to record a multi-hit game.

Freshmen Will Heflin and Andrew Schultz combined to throw scoreless frames sixth, seventh and eighth before senior Jon Lipinski closed the door with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

Disregarding a lone hit-by-pitch, Tennessee’s staff did not allow a single Tennessee Tech hitter to reach by a walk. With mid-week game’s serving as an opportunity to give young arms in-game work, this stat will certainly please Tennessee’s coaching staff. Finishing with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 7:0, a continuation of this trend will be something the Vols will preach going into their weekend series with Georgia.

As Tennessee seeks to end the 0-6 start to conference play, the opening game of that Georgia series is set to start on Friday at 6 p.m. ET.

Edited by Quinn Pilkey

Featured image by Austin Perryman, courtesy of Tennessee Athletics