University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
29-9
Eastern Kentucky
15-22
#11 Softball Defeats EKU, 7-4
April 08, 2015 | Softball
April 8, 2015
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Meghan Gregg hit a two-run home run and No. 11 Tennessee completed a doubleheader sweep of Eastern Kentucky with a 7-4 Game 2 win on Wednesday at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium.
Tennessee (29-9) scored two runs in the first inning, three in the third and two in the fourth. Eastern Kentucky (15-22) plated runs in the second and third frames and had a two-run homer in the seventh.
UT defeated EKU, 7-2, in Game 1. With the wins on Wednesday, Tennessee improved to 9-0 all-time against the Colonels.
Gregg finished 2-for-3 with the home run and three RBIs. Megan Geer and Tory Lewis scored two runs apiece.
Rainey Gaffin (6-2) earned the win after throwing 3.1 relief frames with no earned runs allowed and six strikeouts. Gretchen Aucoin started the game and gave up two runs (one earned) and struck out two. Cheyanne Tarango threw 1.2 scoreless innings in relief.
Leanna Pittsenbarger (7-9) took the loss for the colonels after issuing seven runs (four earned) over four innings. Hayley Flynn threw two shutout relief innings.
Tennessee took a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Gregg hit a two-run home run off the scoreboard in left field. With one on and one out, Gregg sent a 2-1 pitch from Pittsenbarger soaring over the wall in left for her ninth homer of the season.
Eastern Kentucky responded with one run in the top of the second. With a runner on third and two outs, Darcy Schueler hit an RBI single to right field off Aucoin.
The Lady Vols scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning on two hits and three EKU errors. With one on and one out, Gaffin hit an RBI double to left, scoring two runs on the play and advancing to third on an error by the left fielder. Geer followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to plate Gaffin and extend UT's lead to 5-1.
The Colonels scored one run in the third inning. Tennessee turned a 6-4-3 double play on a Katie Tackett groundball to Gregg on the left side. With two outs, Amber Murray hit an RBI double to left field, scoring Paige Murphy on the play.
In the fourth inning, the Lady Vols grew their lead to 7-2 when Gregg and Taylor Koenig hit back-to-back RBI singles up the middle with two outs.
Eastern Kentucky added two more runs in the seventh inning when Tackett hit a two-out, two-run homer to right field.
Tennessee will take on No. 1 LSU for a three-game series from April 10-12. The Saturday game is at 5 p.m. and it will be televised live on ESPN with Beth Mowins and Jessica Mendoza in the broadcast booth. Sunday's game will have an online video broadcast via WatchESPN/SEC Network +.
***Tennessee head men's basketball coach Rick Barnes will throw out the first pitch for the Saturday game.***
Fans can also listen to all of this weekend's games of the UT-LSU series on WNML 990 AM or UTSports.com with Brian Rice on the call.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Gaffin, Rainey (6-2)
L: PITTSENBARGER, L. (7-9)
Batting:
2B: MURRAY, Amber 1
HR: TACKETT, Katie 1
RBI: TACKETT, Katie 2 ; MURRAY, Amber 1 ; SCHUELER, Darcy 1
Base Running:
RUNS: CAMPOS, Krislyn 1 ; MURPHY, Paige 1 ; TACKETT, Katie 1 ; MURRAY, Amber 1
HBP: FOBBS, Sarah 1 ; STEWART, Taylor 1
Batting:
2B: Gaffin, Rainey 1 ; Lewis, Tory 1
HR: Gregg, Meghan 1
RBI: Gaffin, Rainey 1 ; Geer, Megan 1 ; Gregg, Meghan 3 ; Koenig, Taylor 1
SF: Geer, Megan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gaffin, Rainey 1 ; Geer, Megan 2 ; Gregg, Meghan 1 ; Geathers, Shaliyah 1 ; Lewis, Tory 2
SB: Geer, Megan 1
