Cut To The Chase: Tennessee Takes Care of Xavier 10-1
The Vols are still undefeated since I turned 31-years-old last Monday.
Welcome to the “Tennessee Thomas” newsletter written by “The Sports Renaissance Man” Chase Thomas. This is a section of the newsletter where I write about the Tennessee Volunteers. Who would have guessed? In my game recaps I follow a “cut to the chase” style with those words highlighted in bold throughout the piece. I do hope that you enjoy it and add your email below so you never miss an issue. This newsletter is delivered to your inbox, not your doorstep, daily. Happy reading.
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I played AAU basketball growing up back in Atlanta. I’ll never forget my first tournament with the Gwinnett All-Stars. It was at Osborne High way out in Cobb County. Their school and gym were painted red with their mascot being the Cardinals and all. I remember that we played well to begin things, but let me tell you, it was a long, long Saturday afternoon in the gym. Due to the way this particular tournament worked, for us to advance into the final games on Sunday we had a date with the Georgia Stars. The Stars were, and maybe still are, one of the best AAU teams in the state, and they absolutely crushed us. I want to say my only points that evening came after getting hammered driving inside by supposed teenagers that were more than twice my size. We had already played three games earlier in the day and by the time this game against the Stars rolled around we were sitting ducks. We had nothing left for the Super Team and our time at Osborne High came to a close late Saturday night.
That’s what happened on Tuesday night in Knoxville, TN., between the Tennessee Volunteers and the Xavier Musketeers. Xavier came into the night just trying to keep their head above water, or, in their case, their team above the .500 mark late into the 2022 college baseball season. Xavier still has a lot to play for in the Big East down the stretch here, but this Tuesday affair felt like one of those contests where both sides were thinking about tomorrow.
God bless Zander Sechrist. The man wanted to get to the Auburn series this weekend just as much as the rest of us. Sechrist threw four pitches to get three outs in the top of the first inning Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Tuesday Night Man had somewhere to be as he hustled off the mound after each quick frame on the mound. The man always darts off the mound back into the dugout after getting through each inning. This was not what Xavier had in mind, though, seven different pitchers in a game where the Musketeers lost 10-1.
Part of the reason Tennessee baseball games can drag a bit is for good reason – it is really hard for opposing pitchers to put the Vols down, especially if they have two outs in the inning. This game was different, though, as the Vols had 7 runs on four hits at one point in this game. As of this writing, I think Luc Lipcius just got awarded another walk. The countless pitching changes on Tuesday night via the Musketeers was, well, a lot, and I imagine a lot of you folks who tuned in Tuesday night in Vol Nation would have preferred if they would have cut that out.
Tennessee homered in this one, too, which was a surprise, to, well, nobody. With the two-run dinger to left via shortstop Cortland Lawson, the Vols have now hit a home run in eight-straight contests. Speaking of Lawson, he was everywhere on the evening. He had that two-run dinger to put the Vols up a healthy 3-0, but he also was responsible for Sechrist losing his no-no bid in the top of the fourth with a weird grounder that led to an infield single. He bounced back, though, with another RBI in the form of a sacrifice fly to put the Vols up 4-0 in the bottom of the fourth. The meat of the order struggled early in this one, with Jordan Beck, Drew Gilbert, and Trey Lipscomb, but it was Lawson in that eighth spot who came to the rescue.
The Everybody Walks Luc phenomenon is a fascinating one. On Tuesday night, the Musketeers were missing everywhere with the Vols’ first baseman at the plate. He leads the team in walks and it’s not particularly close. After adding another to kick things off in the second inning, it was revealed he had 43 to that point with the next closest on the team still finding themselves in the 20s. Luc also had some fun on second base later on in the game as one of the 37 pitchers featured Tuesday night really wanted to pick off the 1B for whatever reason.
I would love to know what hitters who are tasked with putting bat-on-ball against Ben Joyce think when they come up to the plate. Joyce was the first reliever inserted into the game on Tuesday night by manager Tony Vitello, and to watch as hitters chase his electric fastball wherever it ends up is never not a marvel. You can feel the energy of the crowd shift when Joyce enters the game and that first sound of his fastball about ripping a hole through the catcher’s mitt. Everyone’s eyes immediately turn to the radar gun to see what triple-digit number that strike was. Joyce came in with a runner on first and one out. He struck both batters out and the flamethrower’s watch had ended.
The Auburn Tigers are up next for the Vols are on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Let’s ride.