University of Tennessee Athletics
White Team Forces Game Seven With 10-6 Victory Over Orange Team
November 01, 2008 | Baseball
Nov. 1, 2008
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Down 3-2 in the series, the White team rallied four times to top the Orange team 10-6 and force a game seven in game six of the Tennessee baseball Orange & White World Series played Saturday afternoon at Robert M. Lindsay Field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
"I thought they played well," White team coach Bradley LeCroy said. "I was proud of them for getting down early and coming back. We never hit the panic button. We just kept swinging the bats. Every time they came back and scored, we came back and answered. "
The Tennessee baseball team will scrimmage Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. Fans are invited to attend. The seventh and deciding game of the series has been moved to Friday afternoon at 4 p.m. Admission to the game is free.
"It should be an exciting final game with Nick Hernandez going for the Orange team," LeCroy said. "We'll counter with Adam Adkins and really get a good look at one of our younger pitchers. So it is going to be a tough game, but the one thing is that our guys have battled the whole time and we just keep coming back and we have the momentum from winning today."
Senior Ryne Simpson earned the victory for the White team after throwing 1 2/3 innings out of the bullpen. Simpson allowed no runs and no hits while striking out three of the five batters that he faced. Hernandez took the loss for the Orange team, pitching one inning and surrendering one run off two hits.
Bryan Morgado started the game on the hill for the White team. The sophomore pitched four innings, allowing three runs on five hits. He also struck out six. Getting the call for the Orange team was Steve Crnkovich, who threw five innings and allowed two runs on only one hit.
The White team got the scoring started early when shortstop Zach Osborne scored from third on a throwing error in the top of the first inning. He reached on a walk then stole second and advanced to third on wild pitch. The Orange team came right back and tied the game at 1-1 when center fielder P.J. Polk tied the game on a home run over the left field wall to lead off the bottom of the first inning.
Junior Mike Hornsby gave the White team a 2-1 lead with a home run to right field leading off the top of the third inning.
The Orange team again tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom of the third when second baseman Cody Grisham homered to left field.
The Orange team took its first lead of the game 3-2 in the bottom of the fourth inning as third baseman Tyler Horne led off the inning with a home run to left-center field.
In a back-and-forth game, the White team knotted the game at 3-3 when right fielder Josh Liles singled to drive in Osborne, who reached on a double to lead off the inning.
First baseman Cody Hawn broke the 3-3 tie when he hit his fourth home run of the fall over the center field wall scoring Josh Liles, putting the White team in front 5-3. The White team added another run in the top of the sixth inning when Gary Wilson doubled to left field to send Matt Hamaker home, increasing the White's advantage to 6-3.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Orange team left fielder Jared Frazier tied the game at 6-6 with a three-run home run over the right field wall. Matt Ramsey and P.J. Polk scored on the play after reaching on a single and a walk, respectively.
Hamaker put the White team in front 7-6 in the top of the eighth inning when he doubled off the wall in right center field to drive in Hawn.
The White team added three more runs in the top of the ninth inning to push its lead to 10-6. The first run scored off the bat of Kentrail Davis whose bunt single scored Andy Shuford from third base. Hawn drove in another run with a single to left field that scored Liles. Davis and Hawn then pulled off a double steal that sent Hawn to second and Davis home.
Senior Danny Wiltz came in to close out the game for the White team. Wiltz allowed no runs on two hits while striking out two. Aaron Tullo and Will Locante also saw action out the White bullpen.
Stephen McCray, Josh Allman and Matt Ramsey combined to throw three innings out of the bullpen for the Orange team.
