University of Tennessee Athletics
UT downs Louisville, 7-6, behind 3 HRs
March 19, 2008 | Baseball
Box Score | Box Score (PDF)
LOUISVILLE, Ky. ??? The Tennessee baseball team used a season-high-tying 13-hit attack and three home runs to defeat projected Big East Conference champion Louisville 7-6 Wednesday night at Patterson Stadium. Freshman phenom Kentrail Davis belted a pair of home runs to help the Volunteers improve to 13-5 on the year.
Tennessee overcame a five-error night by exploding for four runs on six hits in the seventh inning. Junior newcomer Ty???Relle Harris pitched seven strong innings to earn his first win as a Vol, and fellow junior Danny Wiltz was spectacular out of the bullpen through the final two frames while logging his second save of the year.
Originally slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch, Wednesday???s game was pushed back to a 7 p.m. start due to consistent rain in the Louisville area. And despite the overcast conditions and temperatures in the mid-30s through the early innings, the Tennessee bats were hot early on.
Each of Tennessee???s first four?? batters logged hits off Cardinals starter James Belanger in the top of the first, with Davis highlighting the barrage with a two-run homer over the fence in right field. Davis??? third homer of the season was one of five hits for UT in the opening inning.
Louisville third baseman Chris Dominguez put the Cardinals (9-6) on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second with a solo home run to left-center. It was one of two Louisville homers on the night, as the teams combined for five dingers in the game.
But Davis basically erased Louisville???s lone hit to that point with another solo blast in the top of the third. Davis??? second longball of the game again left the park in right field, and gave the heralded rookie from Theodore, Ala., his first career multi-homer game.
A Louisville basehit sandwiched between a pair of Tennessee fielding errors in the bottom of the third enabled the Cardinals to load the bases with one out. Justin McClanahan then delivered a two-run single that tied the game at 3-3 and left runners at first and second.
A third Volunteers fielding miscue later in the third inning made it possible for Louisville to reload the bases, but Harris induced an inning-ending flyball to escape the frame after absorbing a pair of unearned runs.
Davis flirted with a third home run to lead off the sixth inning, but his deep blast to left-center bounced off the outfield fence for a double. Vols third baseman Cody Brown then sent a fielder???s choice toward Belanger on the mound, and the pitcher fired a quick throw to third base. Davis slid head-first on the wet field-turf surface and slipped right past the bag, enabling Dominguez to apply the tag.
Patterson Stadium???s entire playing surface is field turf, except for an earthen dirt pitcher???s mound. Even the batter???s box and basepaths are field turf that has been painted brown.
Cardinals catcher Derrick Alfonso broke the 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth by belting the first pitch of the inning out of the park to dead-center. And a two-out RBI single by first baseman Andrew Clark later in the frame put Louisville up by a score of 5-3. Three of UL???s runs were unearned, as the Vols had matched their season-high with four errors to that point.
After Tennessee first baseman Jeff Lockwood led off the top of the seventh with a double to the gap in left-center, junior designated hitter Jarred Frazier crushed a two-run bomb over the fence in right field. Frazier???s game-tying homer was his second of the season and the fourth of his career.
The Vols were just getting started in the seventh, however, as they proceeded to plate two more runs on six total hits in the frame. After reaching on a pinch-hit single, freshman outfielder P.J. Polk scored the go-ahead run on an RBI basehit by second baseman Andy Simunic. That play left the bases loaded with no outs, and that scenario was repeated after an RBI single by third baseman Cody Brown brought the score to 7-5, in favor of the Big Orange.
Cardinals reliever Gavin Logsdon (0-1) then amazingly recorded three consecutive strikeouts???two of which ended with called third strikes???to keep the game within reach.
Harris answered for the Vols against the middle of the UL lineup in the bottom of the seventh, duplicating Logsdon???s feat by recording back-to-back-to-back strikeouts to preserve Tennessee???s two-run lead.
Never a group to avoid drama, however, the Vols saw Louisville rally to load the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth. Wiltz drew the unenviable task of entering the game at that point, and he debuted with a strikeout of Nate Holland for the first out of the frame. Clark then made it a one-run game with an RBI sacrifice fly, but Wiltz kept the Vols??? slim edge intact with an inning-ending fielder???s choice one batter later.
With one out in the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Arnold sent what appeared to be a potential basehit to shallow center, but a charging Davis laid out for a spectacular diving catch.
Davis finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBI while raising his season batting average to .463. He leads the Vols with 25 hits, four home runs and 19 RBI this season.
Harris??? final line included six runs (two earned) on eight hits with four walks and a season-high five strikeouts. Wiltz was perfect through two innings while lowering his season ERA to 1.62. He is 2-0 this season with a pair of saves.
Tennessee now leads the all-time series with Louisville 10-4, dating to 1927.
The Vols are scheduled to depart Louisville Thursday morning and travel to Athens, Ga., for a three-game weekend series against Southeastern Conference foe Georgia (10-7, 2-1 SEC) at Foley Field. Game times are set for 7 p.m. Friday, 3 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Friday and Saturday???s games both will be televised regionally on CSS.
