University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
ETSU
Vols Blast Four Homers in 14-7 Win at ETSU
April 21, 2015 | Baseball
JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Volunteers came out on top of East Tennessee State in Tuesday night's slugfest, using four home runs and a season-high 18 hits to claim a 14-7 victory over the Buccaneers at Thomas Stadium.
With the win, Tennessee improves to 16-20 on the season (5-13 in SEC) while ETSU slips to a 14-25 overall record in 2015.
Five members of UT's lineup recorded multiple hits on the night, led by right fielder Chris Hall (4-for-5, RBI), left fielder Christin Stewart (3-for-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI), second baseman Nick Senzel (3-for-5), center fielder Brodie Leftridge (1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI) and first baseman Andrew Lee (2-for-5, HR, 4 RBI). The four homers tied as the most home runs hit in a game by UT this year, as the team also hit four against Florida on March 13 in Gainesville, Fla.
"There were three really good things that happened tonight," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "Obviously, it was the home runs by the three guys who hit them. Stewie hit some spectacular home runs. The one over the scoreboard was unbelievable. It was Andrew Lee hitting a grand slam. You know, and then Brodie [Leftridge] came up and his thumb was a little sore from a dive in center field and he almost didn't know if he could hit. I'm really proud of the offense."
Tennessee got on the boards early against the Bucs, as leadoff man Senzel hit a double down the right field line in the first. Stewart then cranked a two-run homer over the right field wall to give the Vols a 2-0 advantage.
East Tennessee State slowly chipped away at Tennessee's lead, plating one run in each of the first three frames to edge ahead in the third, 3-2.
Third baseman Jared Pruett (2-for-4) hit a standup double before Stewart came up big again for the Vols in the fifth, blasting an opposite field, two-run homer to put Tennessee ahead, 4-3. With the longball to left field, Stewart hit his second home run of the game, which also marked the second time for him to accomplish the feat this season (also, at Arkansas State on April 1).
The Vols went on to push one more run across in the fifth, making it a three-run frame to take a 5-3 lead over the Buccaneers.
On a two-out rally in the sixth, Senzel hustled to beat out the throw on an infield hit, followed by back-to-back walks issued to Pruett and Stewart to load the bases. First baseman Lee then hit a grand slam home run to right-center field, giving the Vols a 9-3 lead. With the four-run homer, Lee became the first Volunteer to hit a grand slam this year and the first since Senzel did so against UNLV on February 21, 2014.
East Tennessee's offense came back to score three runs on four hits in the bottom of the sixth and narrow the deficit to 9-6. Freshman Brodie Leftridge then delivered a fourth home run for Tennessee in the top of the seventh, marking his first career homer with a two-run shot to left field to make it an 11-6 ballgame.
Starting lefty Zach Warren went 2.0 innings against the Bucs, surrendering three runs on five hits before his outing ended in the third.
Righthander Jacob Westphal entered the game in relief of Warren in the third and worked 3.2 solid innings before junior Steven Kane came in in the bottom sixth. Kane tossed 1.1 innings and allowed just two hits before sophomore Kyle Serrano came in to finish the game in the eighth and secure Tennessee's 14-7 lead for the win.
"I thought when Jake Westphal came into the game, he turned the whole momentum of the game around," Serrano said. "Everything was going kind of slow and then he came in and filled up the strike zone. I was also really proud of Jordan Rodgers coming off of the bench. We bring him in and he gets three good swings on pitches, gets a base hit, drives in a run and then his last at-bat was great.
"Like I said to the team, maybe this is the mojo we needed," Serrano added. "We needed something like this. We haven't had something like this all year long and to come all the way over here and do that is a good sign for me."
The Vols begin a stretch of eight straight home games this weekend, starting with a three-game series against the South Carolina Gamecocks (Friday, April 24 - Sunday, April 26) at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee baseball program, visit UTSports.com/baseball and follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter.
