ForumsTennessee scored nine runs but was unable to overcome a shaky start on the mound as the Vols fell to Western Carolina 14-9 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Wednesday night.
Starting pitcher Aaron Tullo, who tossed five strong innings last week against Tennessee Tech, allowed four runs while recording only two outs before calling it a night.
“It just didn’t look like he could hit any of his spots and he was pitching 2-0,” Coach Todd Raleigh said. “It seemed like we pitched 2-0 all night, more so than we have all year. Other than Oregon State this is our worst pitched game.”
After Steve Crnkovich threw a scoreless second inning for the Vols, Rob Catapano took the mound in the third. The left-handed junior surrendered a pair of two-run home runs that propelled the Catamounts to a 10-3 lead.
“We didn’t pitch well,” Raleigh acknowledged after the game. “We gave up 10 in the first three innings and the pitching just put us behind. We fought back several times, I thought, to get close but you can’t give up 14 runs and expect to win.”
Tennessee (15-15, 2-7 SEC) used seven different pitchers in the contest and although the first three innings were a struggle, there were a couple of bright spots in middle relief according to Raleigh.
“Dylan (Hochevar) pitched pretty good actually,” Raleigh said. “I thought he was probably one of our — him and Hunter Daniel — were one of the lone bright spots. Dylan gave up an 0-2 home run but other than that he was pretty solid.”
Offensively Josh Liles led Tennessee with three hits followed by Blake Forsythe with two. P.J. Polk and Cody Hawn each hit solo home runs.
Vol batters combined for 11 hits and nine runs, but Coach Raleigh believes his guys could have performed better at the plate.
“We didn’t make any errors but even though we scored nine runs I still think we could have hit better,” Raleigh said. “We struck out 12 times tonight so that was a little disappointing especially a couple guys in the middle of the lineup (who) struck out 10 times between them. So, we can’t do that and be a good team.”
Raleigh, who coached at Western Carolina for eight seasons before coming to Tennessee, admitted there were some emotions involved with taking the field against his former team.
“Some of there players that played today were there when I was there so yeah, there is. But I’m not playing. If our players took it as hard as I did it would be a little bit different, but obviously tonight we weren’t ready to play for some reason.”
Tennessee jumps back into Southeastern Conference play this weekend, hosting the Florda Gators at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Comments on this entry are closed.