Beck Homers Twice, Blade Tidwell Shoves as Vols Shutout Alabama State in NCAA Tournament Regional Opener

Vols Baseball Jordan Beck Homers Twice, Blade Tidwell Shoves as Vols Shutout Alabama State in NCAA Tournament Regional Opener

KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– The top-ranked Tennessee Baseball Volunteers faced off against the SWAC winners in the Alabama State Hornets on Friday in their first game of the NCAA Regional Tournament in Knoxville.

The Vols easily got by the Hornets, dominating ASU 10-0. Tennessee's performance was powered by great nights out of Jorel Ortega and Jordan Beck at the plate and Blade Tidwell's best outing of his season in 7.2 innings.

The Vols did not have starting catcher Evan Russell, but it ultimately didn't matter, as Tennessee faced the best Alabama State had to offer and downed the Hornets in their 54th win of the season.

Here's everything you need to know about the BaseVols' ninth shutout of the season.

Blade Starts Hot, Vols Strike First

Tennessee sophomore RHP Blade Tidwell got the starting nod for the Vols in their NCAA Regional Tournament opener, and the Loretto, Tennessee, native started off on the right foot.

Tidwell retired the Hornets in order with nine pitches in the first before retiring the side around a two-out single-turned-triple thanks to a Jordan Beck fielding error. Tidwell stranded Alabama State's second baseman Dilan Espinal, who had recorded the Hornets' first hit of the evening, by getting ASU's third baseman Christian Lopez to ground out.

Luc Lipcius came up big for the Vols in the final out, making an incredible lunging catch to nab Cortland Lawson's throw at first and strand Espinal.

The sophomore continued his solid start to the game in the third, retiring the side around a one-out single by Alabama State's nine-hole hitter Ian Matos.

At the plate, Tennessee didn't get going until the second inning. Trey Lipscomb cracked Tennessee's second hit of the evening with a leadoff single through the right side, and Jorel Ortega brought the senior home. The sophomore smoked an RBI double to left-center for his 54th RBI of the year, coming up big again for Tennessee after falling down 0-2 in the count. Alabama State starting pitcher Breon Pooler then retired the side to strand Ortega, but not before the Vols had struck first and led 1-0 after two.

Jorel Ortega Comes Up Big Again

Blade Tidwell continued his great start through the fourth inning, retiring the Hornets in order with a great strikeout to catch Chris Lewis looking for the third out.

And Tennessee's offense followed up Tidwell's great inning with one of their own.

Jorel Ortega followed up his RBI double with a solo homer, his 16th of the season, off the batter's eye in his second at-bat, giving the Vols a 2-0 lead. Ortega'

Tennessee added another run in the bottom of the fifth off a Jordan Beck sac fly to left-field to bring Seth Stephenson home. Jorel Ortega nearly came up big for the Big Orange again in the fifth, drilling a beauty in the left-center gap with runners on first and second, but ASU's center fielder Ian Matos impressively tracked it down and made the catch.

While Tennessee's offense took a 3-0 lead, Blade Tidwell continued to shove on the bump in LNS through the seventh inning, recording undoubtedly his longest–and best–outing of the season.

Vols Blow it Open in the Sixth, Tack on a Couple More in Seventh and Eighth

After recording back-to-back one-run innings, the Vols finally settled into their elite rhythm in the sixth, posting five runs in the frame to blow it open in the Regional opener.

After Blake Burke worked a leadoff walk and Cortland Lawson singled to left-center to put runners on the corners with nobody out, Tennessee freshman catcher Charlie Taylor had one of the best at-bats of his first season on Rocky Top.

Taylor laid down a beautiful RBI sac squeeze bunt to bring Burke home and extends Tennessee's lead to 4-0. It was just Taylor's third RBI of the season, but it sparked Tennessee's offensive onslaught on Alabama State relief pitcher Payton Harris.

Luc Lipcius approached the plate with two outs and Lawson on first, and the super-senior continued his recent success at the plate with a roped single to the left-center gap to score Lawson.

Lipcius didn't stay on the base paths long, as Jordan Beck crushed a two-run shot over left-center to give the Vols a 7-0 lead. Beck's homer marked his first of the postseason, as the junior is starting to show the necessary signs that he has broken out of his slump.

The inning's final run came in the next at-bat when Drew Gilbert launched Tennessee's second consecutive skyscraper of a homer, this one over the right-field wall. The homer came against ASU relief pitcher Osvaldo Mendez, whose first pitch of the night was the one Gilbert sent out of the yard.

The Vols added yet another run in the eighth inning courtesy of Blake Burke's solo shot well over the scoreboard for the 13th blast of his freshman season, putting him two homers away from breaking the program single-season home run record by a freshman.

Tennessee's final run of the night came via another Jordan Beck home run. The second blast by Mike Honcho on the night went oppo and put the Vols up 10-0.

Blade Tidwell's Day Ends, Bullpen Closes it Out

Tidwell's fantastic day came to an end after the sophomore retired his first two batters in the eighth inning, and the Volunteer Fireman Ben Joyce got the ball to close out the game.

Joyce dealt a strikeout to end the eighth, and junior right-handed pitcher Mark McLaughlin took care of business in the ninth to finish off Alabama State. Three Tennessee pitchers dealt nine shutout innings to help the Vols achieve their ninth shutout of the season and move on in the winner's bracket of the Regional.

Up Next

Even without Evan Russell, everything went right for the Vols in their tournament opener against Alabama State. Beck, Ortega, Lipcius, Lawson, and even Charlie Taylor delivered for Tennessee at the plate. The Vols will look to keep it going against the Campbell Camels in the second game of the Knoxville Regional on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. 

Campbell won their first game of the weekend against Georgia Tech, drubbing the Yellow Jackets 15-8. 

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