University of Tennessee Athletics
University of Tennessee
Arkansas
Diamond Vols Edge Past #20 Arkansas, 5-4
May 08, 2015 | Baseball
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -- After matching No.20-ranked Arkansas hit-for-hit through six innings, Tennessee pulled ahead to claim a 5-4 win over the Razorbacks in the series opener at Baum Stadium on Friday night.
With the win, Tennessee improves to 20-24 on the season and 8-17 in SEC competition, while Arkansas (29-19) slips to 14-11 in conference play.
"We set the stage that this was like a regional and we have to play like that," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "It wasn't perfect. We left some runners in scoring position but tonight was about picking guys up. The defense was really spectacular again and then there's the pitching. It's like I've been saying that last couple of weeks, I'm very proud of these guys. We couldn't easily tanked it but I think tonight shows that we're not ready to quit. We're going to go down until someone tells us we can't play anymore."
At the plate, Tennessee outhit the Razorbacks with 10 base knocks in the contest. Leading the Vols' offense, second baseman Nick Senzel went 4-for-5 with two runs scored and one RBI, while designated hitter Andrew Lee (2-for-5, 2B), shortstop A.J. Simcox (1-for-4, RBI) and left fielder Christin Stewart (1-for-3, RBI) each contributed to UT's scoring.
With a double in his first at-bat against the Razorbacks, Lee also extended his current season-long hit streak to 15 games. The streak marks a career-long streak for the junior, as well as the longest streak for the Vols' squad this year.
Arkansas took an early 1-0 lead after the first inning, but Senzel quickly answered for the Vols in the third. With two outs in the inning, the sophomore crushed a ball to straight-away center field for a game-tying home run.
The Razorbacks edged ahead again in the bottom of the third, but the Vols used a base hit by Lee, a throwing error and a free pass by righthander Trey Killian to load the bases. Center fielder Chris Hall was then hit by a pitch, bringing home leadoff man Lee to even the score at 2-2 before the end of the frame.
The schools battled pitch-for-pitch until the sixth, when Arkansas right fielder Tyler Spoon drove a two-run homer over the left field wall to make it a 4-2 Arkansas advantage.
In the seventh, Senzel led off with his fourth base hit of the night and came around to score on an RBI-double from Stewart to narrow the deficit. Simcox later went to bat with runners on second and third with one out and drove a ball opposite field, plating one run to tie things up at 4-4.
Tennessee then claimed their first lead of the game, as Stewart crossed home plate on a wild pitch by new Arkansas pitcher Zach Jackson to make it a 5-4 ballgame.
"Nick[Senzel] was awesome tonight," Serrano said. "He took some great at-bats. When he does that and when the other guys are functioning, it makes the whole offense better."
In his fifth start of the season, junior Andy Cox settled in after a shaky first inning and dealt 7.0 strong innings, allowing four runs on seven hits with six strikeouts to receive the win.
Freshman Jacob Westphal went to the hill in relief of Cox in the eighth and faced three batters before righty Kyle Serrano entered the game. Serrano went on to get out of a jam in the eighth before Andrew Lee went to the mound in the ninth, closing out the game for his eighth save of the year.
"When you look at the scoreboard and look at what happened, we were fighting from behind the whole time," Serrano said, "It could have been easy to come in with this atmosphere and say, 'Well, tonight is just not our night.' But kudos to our guys and I'm really proud of them."
On Saturday, May 9, Tennessee sophomore Hunter Martin (1-2) gets the starting nod against the Razorbacks for a 7:05 p.m. ET game at Baum Stadium. Game action is slated for SEC Network+ stream, accessible online and via the Watch ESPN app.
For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee baseball program, visit UTSports.com/baseball and follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter.
