University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Hawaii-Hilo
Baseball Team Avenges Loss, Beats Hawaii-Hilo 11-3
February 08, 2000 | Baseball
The Tennessee Volunteers avenged a 4-0 loss in last night's nightcap with an 11-3 victory over Hawaii-Hilo on Monday.
The Volunteers (4-1), playing game 3 of a seven-game series against the Vulcans, utilized a six-hit third inning to take a comfortable 5-0 lead. Junior pitcher Joe Bertolino made his first career start for Tennessee by throwing four innings while giving up three hits.
The Vols pounded out 15 hits on the night after suffering a season-low two hits in game-two on Sunday. Junior designated hitter Jeff Christensen had the biggest hit of the game when he homered over the center field fence to give the Vols an 8-0 lead in the fourth. The home run was the first by Tennessee this season.
The Vulcans battled back in the third inning by scoring three runs on two hits and a Vol error. The Vulcan scoring began off a miscue by Bertolino when he attempted to pick off Dana McCracken at second. The ball sailed over the head of second baseman Chris Burke into center field and allowed two runs to score. Hawaii-Hilo got its final run of the inning when Bertolino walked Jake Ryan in a bases loaded situation to score Billy Rayl.
Sophomore Brian Gates (1-0) got the win for the Volunteers after replacing Bertolino in the fifth. Gates gave up no runs and allowed just two hits in four innings of work. Burke led all batters with a 4 of 6 performance that included two doubles and a RBI single.
Tennessee will be back in action on Tuesday evening when it plays game 4 of the series against Hawaii-Hilo. UT head coach Rod Delmonico will be looking to become the all-time winningest head coach in Tennessee history. With a win on Tuesday, Delmonico will sport a career record at UT of 409-208 surpassing Bill Wright who won 408 games in 19 years (1963-81).
