Dean Curley grand slam breaks game open for Tennessee
The Tennessee baseball team was locked in a close contest against Kansas State in the early going, that is until a Dean Curley grand slam broke the game open in the bottom of the third inning.
Curley stepped to the plate with one out and the bags juiced, his second appearance at the plate on the evening. His first time around he grounded out to third base.
This one felt a little different. After working the count to 1-2, Curley needed to protect himself at the plate. And a pitch came in that he liked on the fourth attempt and Curley blasted it over the left field fence, extending the Tennessee lead to 8-2.
You can check out the Dean Curley grand slam below.
Kansas State actually struck first in the contest, pinning two runs on the board in the top of the first inning off starting pitcher Aaron Combs. Combs would last just two innings in his start.
Things got going when center fielder Brendan Jones hit a one-out single up the middle, then shortstop Kaelen Culpepper got aboard via a walk. They moved to second and third when a pickoff attempt was botched.
Second baseman Brady Day brought them both home when he latched on to a Combs pitch and sent it to center field, making it 2-0 Kansas State early on.
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Tennessee would come back to plate three runs in the bottom of the second to take the lead.
Catcher Cannon Peebles got aboard first with a one-out double, then left fielder Dylan Dreiling brought him home with a shot over the left field wall off a 2-1 count. That knotted the game at 2-2.
After center fielder Hunter Ensley was hit by a pitch, leadoff hitter Christian Moore singled to put runners at the corners with two outs. First baseman Blake Burke then doubled to bring home Ensley safely, but Moore was caught at the plate to end the inning with Tennessee leading 3-2.
The Volunteers notched their first run in the top of the third inning on a solo home run by Billy Amick. Then the Dean Curley grand slam fireworks broke the game fully open.
Tennessee would go on to stretch the lead to 9-2 by the end of the third inning, but Kansas State had tacked on two to make it 9-4 in the top of the fourth inning at the time of this writing.