Fall Ball: Tennessee outduels Wake Forest 13-9 in 18-inning exhibition
Tennessee got some work in on the diamond Sunday, taking on Wake Forest in 18 innings of exhibition play. It’s one of two on the fall slate for the Volunteers as Tennessee will take on Memphis in Jackson, Tenn. on November 6.
Tony Vitello’s club handled the Demon Deacons overall on the afternoon, winning 13-9. Wake Forest took the first part of the exhibition 5-4 before Tennessee cruised in the second phase of the contest, 9-4. The head coach broke down the positives and negatives of the day and where his team has grown over the course of fall practice.
Ace Chase Dollander started the ballgame and worked around a one-out walk to exit the first with no damage. The righty struck out the side in his minimal work on the day. Things went south on the mound from there in the early going as Chase Burns and Junior College transfer Aaron Combs each gave up two-run home runs.
Wake Forest pushed across its fifth run of the ballgame in the top of the seventh on an RBI groundout with Kirby Connell on the mound, which gave the visitors the lead. From there, the Vols pitchers settled down, allowing and RBI infield hit in the top of the seventh and a three-run home run in the eighth inning of game two. The runs came off Tennessee pitchers Andrew Behanke and Brad Gagen.
Tennessee’s offense largely came from sophomore Christian Moore in game one, who registered two solo home runs in the exhibition. His first came in the first inning and was a shot to right-center field while his second was a no-doubter to left field. Jared Dickey drove in Christian Scott on a sacrifice fly in the fifth inning and Dylan Drieling homered in the sixth, which briefly tied the ballgame.
The Vols began the second leg of the 18-inning affair by taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third of the new game. Austen Jaslove reached on a hit by pitch and then later moved all the way to third on a two-out throwing error by the Wake Forest catcher. Logan Chambers grounded him in two batters later to even the daily score at 5-5.
UT threatened and came through again in the bottom of the 13th when Kavares Tears doubled down the right field line, pushing Hunter Ensley into scoring position at third. Alex Stanwich followed with a sacrifice fly to right, bringing in Ensley and another Volunteer run. Tennessee led 6-5 on the day and 2-0 in the second frame. Backup catcher Charlie Taylor later doubled in another run in the inning.
Tennessee added on in the bottom of the seventh of the second session as Ryan Miller singled in Jake Kendro and Taylor, who reached on a single and hit by pitch. Tears later came up with the bases loaded and cleared them, smoking a ball into the bullpen beyond right field, to hand Vitello’s club a 9-1 lead (13-6 on the day) at the time.
Tennessee was a two-time SEC champion in 2022 and won a program record 57 games. The Vols were tabbed as the top-seed entering the NCAA Tournament field of play, but stalled out in Game three of the Super Regionals to Notre Dame.
Game 1 Pitchers
Chase Dollander, Chase Burns (2 ER), Aaron Combs (2 ER), Drew Beam, Bryce Jenkins, Jake Bimbi, Kirby Connell (1 ER), Jake Fitzgibbons, Andrew Lindsey
Game 2 Pitchers
Wyatt Evans, Hollis Fanning, AJ Russell (FR), Zander Sechrist, Dillon Orr (FR), JJ Garcia (FR), Andrew Behanke (FR, 1 ER), Brad Gagen (FR, 3 ER)
