Late Comeback Comes Up Just Short in Loss to Vanderbilt

Friday, May 11

Knoxville

6:30 P.M. ET

University of Tennessee

27-24, 10-15

Vanderbilt

26-23, 12-13

Vanderbilt

Tennessee

Photo by: Caleb Jones/Tennessee Athletics

Late Comeback Comes Up Just Short in Loss to Vanderbilt

May 11, 2018 | Baseball

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee's late comeback attempt came up just short in its series opener against Vanderbilt on Friday night, as the Volunteers fell 7-6 to the Commodores at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Andre Lipcius and Benito Santiago led the offense, driving in five of the Vols' six runs on the night. Lipcius went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI while Santiago hit a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to cut VU's lead to one run.

The duo of Stephen Scott and Connor Kaiser did the majority of the damage for the Commodores, combining for five hits, five runs, three home runs and four RBI.

Starter Drake Fellows earned the win to improve to 5-4 despite allowing all six Tennessee runs. Chandler Day walked three but did not give up a hit in two scoreless innings of relief to pick up his first save of the year.

UT starter Will Heflin cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. The sophomore lefty gave up a leadoff home run to Stephen Scott and allowed the next two runners to reach base before the Vols went to the bullpen. Zach Linginfelter recorded all three outs in the inning but also gave up two RBI singles as Vanderbilt jumped out to a 3-0 lead.

The Commodores added to their lead with a two-out RBI double from Connor Kaiser in the top of the fourth to make it 4-0. Two-out hits were a theme for Vandy all game as they scored five of their seven runs with two outs.

Lipcius hit a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth and get the Vols on the board. One batter later, Evan Russell singled and advanced all the way to third after the ball got under Pat DeMarco's glove in left field for a two-base error. Russell came in to score on a sacrifice fly by Brodie Leftridge to cut the deficit to two. The play was overturned after review as Russell was originally ruled out at home.

Back-to-back solo home runs with two outs in the sixth helped Vandy regain its four-run lead as Scott hit his second of the game before Kaiser hit one just over the short wall in right field to make it 6-2. The Commodores added another run in the seventh with an RBI single by DeMarco that turned out to be the game-winning run.

The Big Orange rallied in the seventh to load the bases with two outs after a pair of walks by Pete Derkay and Russell and a single by Nico Mascia. Santiago cut the Vanderbilt lead to one with one swing as he hammered a 3-1 pitch over the wall in right center for his first-career grand slam.

Day walked two straight batters to lead off the eighth but struck out Derkay and got Lipcius to line into a double play to escape the jam and preserve the one-run lead.

The Vols had the tying run on second base in the bottom of the ninth, but Day was able to get Santiago swinging to end the game and secure the win.

Notable
Grand Slam for Santiago
With the Vols trailing 7-2 in the bottom of the seventh, senior catcher Benito Santiago gave the Vols a jolt of life with his first-career grand slam. Santiago is the third UT player to hit a grand slam this season, joining Zach Daniels and Andre Lipcius.

Next Up
The Vols and Commodores square off in game two of the series tomorrow at 6 p.m., live on SEC Network+ (WatchESPN). As always, fans can also listen to the game live on Sports Radio WNML (FM 99.1 / AM 990).

Tomorrow will also be Senior Night for the Vols as they will honor Santiago, Brodie Leftridge and Richard Jackson prior to the game.