University of Tennessee Athletics
Griffin, Davis Homer UT past Austin Peay 16-13
April 08, 2008 | Baseball
Box Score??|??Box Score (PDF)????
KNOXVILLE ??? Tennessee answered a seven-run sixth inning by Austin Peay with a nine-run eighth Tuesday as the Volunteers baseball team rallied to beat the Governors 16-13 at Robert M. Lindsay Field at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Big Orange improved to 20-11 with the win and are now 16-3 at home on the year.
Tennessee outfielders Shawn Griffin and Kentrail Davis each delivered a pair of home runs as part of UT???s season-high-tying 17-hit effort, but it was Griffin???s second bomb???a three-run blast in the eighth???that put the Vols on top for good. The reigning SEC Player of the Week now has homers in each of his last four games and leads the team with a .372 average at the plate this season.
???It was a crazy game,??? UT head coach Todd Raleigh said. ???We gave up the biggest inning that we???ve given up to anybody all year, but then we came back and started to swing the bats a lot better than we had been. It was just a strange game, but I credit our kids for battling back again.???
Davis finished the day 4-for-5 with four runs and five RBI. The true freshman has driven in a team-high 28 runs this season. Griffin drove in four runs on two hits???both homers???with three runs scored. He leads the Vols with seven home runs.
???They???re on fire,??? Raleigh said. ???It???s exciting to see.???
One negative for the Vols, considering that they play at ETSU Wednesday before hosting Alabama in a home SEC series this weekend, is that they used seven different pitchers in Tuesday???s victory. Junior reliever D.J. Leffler picked up the win for his first decision as a Vol, and fellow junior Ty???Relle Harris logged his first save in a UT uniform by striking out both batters he faced in ninth-inning, bases-loaded situation.
Govs first baseman Matt Kole???s first-inning RBI double gave Austin Peay an early 1-0 lead, but Davis crushed a solo home run in the bottom of the inning to tie the score at 1-1.
Later in the bottom of the first with two outs, Vols designated hitter Jeff Lockwood dropped an RBI double over the head of Govs centerfielder Rafael Hill to give UT its first lead.
With runners on the corners and one out in the top of the third, Austin Peay third baseman Tyler Farrar put the Govs back on top by a 3-2 score with a two-run double to left field.
Davis smacked a 1-2 offering by Govs starting pitcher Jake Brisbin into the left-field bleachers in the bottom of the third to knot the score at 3-3. His sixth jack of the season gave him his second multi-homer game of the year and his first at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Davis also hit a pair of home runs during UT???s win at Louisville March 19.
Two batters after Davis went deep for the second time, Griffin smacked a solo shot over the right-field wall.
Austin Peay catcher Trey Lucas hit the fourth of six home runs in the game, sending a solo shot out of the park in dead-center in the top of fifth. The Knoxville, Tenn., native???s longball tied the game at 4-4.
Davis came home on a balk in the bottom of the fifth to put the Vols back on top by a run. The balk was called against Kole???who moved from first base to the mound in relief of Brisbin in the bottom of the fifth???as the Govs were in the process of intentionally walking Vol third baseman Cody Brown.
Tennessee freshmen Josh Liles and Blake Forsythe delivered RBI singles and doubles, respectively, later in the fifth as the Vols pulled out to a three-run lead, 7-4. Forsythe???s run-scoring double was the catcher???s second two-bagger of the game.
The Governors reclaimed the lead with their seven-run sixth inning that featured a three-run homer by right fielder Will Hogue, a two-run single by Farrar and lone RBI off the bats of Lucas and Kole. The Govs??? go-ahead inning gave them a seemingly comfortable 11-7 advantage???the largest lead held by either team to that point.
Tennessee???s come-from-behind eighth inning got rolling with a two-run single by Davis, and Griffin later smacked his go-ahead three-run shot. Freshman pinch-hitter P.J. Polk added an RBI double, and Davis came through with another RBI basehit. Catcher Yan Gomes capped the frame with an RBI single of his own, and UT suddenly led 16-11.
Austin Peay scored two runs in the top of the ninth and worked itself into a one-out, bases-loaded situation while threatening to retake the lead once again. Raleigh called upon Harris to extinguish the threat, and the right-hander from Fairfield, Calif., proved up to the task with back-to-back Ks. The game took four hours and three minutes to play and was UT???s longest of the year.
Senior Zane Stone started on the mound for the Vols and surrendered four runs (three earned) in 4 2/3 innings while earning a no-decision. Kole took the loss for Austin Peay to fall to 1-3.
The Vols travel to Johnson City, Tenn., Wednesday for a 7 p.m. game against ETSU at Cardinal Park. Starting pitchers have not yet been announced.
