Quick Takes: Tennessee-Auburn postponed by weather ... again

The second game of Tennessee Baseball’s doubleheader Saturday afternoon was postponed by inclement weather in the top of the 10th inning and will be completed on Sunday at 1 p.m. Eastern Time at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Game 3 of the series, which will be seven innings, will begin 45 minutes after the completion of Game 2. SEC rules dictate the final game of the weekend series being seven innings when a postponed game has to be completed on Sunday.

Tickets for Sunday’s Game 3 will also be good for the completion of Game 2.

Saturday started with a 6-1 Tennessee loss in the series opener, which started in a downpour Friday night before being postponed after the top of the first inning.

Dalton Bargo’s big hit

The Vols had out-hit Auburn 12-7 entering the bottom of the ninth, but trailed 4-3 after leaving 11 runners on base, going 5-for-19 with runners on base and 3-for-14 with runners in scoring position, wasting one scoring chance after the next.

Then Dalton Bargo sent a bomb to the second row of the porches in left field, tying the game at 4-4 as the rain started to fall again. Bargo’s shot answered Auburn’s go-ahead run on a single to right field in the top of the ninth, when Auburn scored with the hit-and-run in place.

Tennessee had wasted runners on second and third in the fifth, seventh and eighth innings, with all three innings ended on strikeouts, before Bargo came up clutch in the ninth. Runners were at the corners in the sixth when Cannon Peebles was thrown out at home plate, after a Gavin Kilen single to right.

The Vols were 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position to start the day in the 6-1 loss in Game 1 Saturday afternoon. They were 1-for-10 with runners on base.

Dylan Loy helped answer bullpen questions

Dylan Loy had his longest outing of the season after replacing Marcus Phillips in the fifth inning in Saturday’s second game. Loy went 3.2 innings pitched and was pulled after giving up a leadoff double to start the top of the ninth.

He pitched 1.1 innings against Northern Kentucky on Tuesday, giving up one hit, after going 2.1 innings at LSU on Saturday, giving up one run on one hit.

His previous season high was 3.0 innings against Florida on March 16, when he gave up just one hit without allowing a run. 

The sophomore left-hander from Pigeon Forge entered Saturday’s games with a 2.57 ERA, pitching 21.0 innings over 21 appearances, with 25 strikeouts against just five walks.

Bad baseball still haunting the Vols 

Dean Curley threw wide on a hard-hit Ike Irish ground ball to second in the top of the fifth, Tennessee’s second error of the day, and Irish later came around to score. 

Irish stole second — he was initially called out on the field, but the call was overturned after Auburn challenged — then stole third. The throw from Peebles was ahead of Irish at third, but Tennessee’s Manny Marin fell as he caught the throw and couldn’t apply the tag.

The Vols made the third out at home plate in the bottom of the sixth, when Peebles tried to score on a Kilen single to right field. Peebles doubled off the wall to reach, but didn’t go to third despite Irish crashing into the wall and falling down. 

Tennessee started the second inning with another error on a throw to first. This time it was Kilen throwing low to the bag, where Andrew Fischer was unable to stop the one-hopper. 

Curley has now committed a team-high 12 errors on the season. He had two errors at third base in the bottom of the ninth at LSU last Friday, helping the Tigers score six unearned runs to rally for an improbable 6-3 win to start the series in Baton Rouge.

He went from third base to designated hitter for the final two games at LSU, with Marin replacing him at third, then switched to second base in Tennessee’s midweek win over Northern Kentucky, with Kilen going from shortstop to second.