This season, the Tennessee baseball Vols are off to the best start in the history of the program. No previous team had ever taken the field with a 10-0 record, as was the case at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Tuesday night.
With a perfect record, a huge weekend matchup with Arizona State looming, and an opponent who managed just one win in 10 tries, Tuesday’s contest against LaSalle had all the makings of a trap game.
But Tennessee had other ideas.
Clearly focused on the task at hand, the Vols recorded a 14-0 shellacking of LaSalle to notch their 11th consecutive win of the season.
Freshman Hunter Martin, who had been out of the rotation since opening day, earned the first win of his career. The young right-hander struck out four batters and allowed only three hits in three innings.
“He felt good, which is the key,” coach Dave Serrano said. “It’s been a while since he’s been on the mound and we were really cautious about how we brought him back. He’s had two or three sessions in the bullpen and he has felt good. if he would have said anything about any kind of recurring soreness we would have continued to rehab him.”
Tennessee relievers performed magnificently. Josh Peterson, Andy Cox, Trevor Charpie, Dalton Saberhagen and Zac Grotz combined for six innings of no-hit, scoreless baseball.
“You see Josh Peterson go out there tonight and give us three really good innings, I felt. He had a good fastball and a good changeup. It was a good night overall,” Serrano said. “We won 14-0 and only walked one guy in the ninth. I don’t think we gave up a hit after the third inning. We got 21 guys in the game so guys are feeling like they are a part of this.”
On offense, Christin Stewart, Scott Price and Will Maddux each hit home runs. A.J. Simcox went 3-for-5 with 2 RBIs and scored twice. Johnny Youngblood recorded hit first hit in orange and finished 2-for-2 on the night with a RBI.
The two teams return to the diamond on Wednesday at 6 p.m. as JUCO transfer Bret Marks makes his first appearance on the mound for the Vols.