Strong Irish Start Too Much for Vols as Notre Dame Wins Game One of NCAA Super Regional
KNOXVILLE, Tenn.– Tennessee Baseball entered the Super Regional looking to win two games against Notre Dame to punch their ticket to the College World Series for the second straight season.
In order to do that, the Vols will now have to win back-to-back games on Saturday and Sunday, as the Fighting Irish got the best of the top-ranked Big Orange on Friday, winning 8-6.
Tennessee starter Blade Tidwell was drastically different from a week ago in all the worst ways, giving up five runs, including three home runs, in the first three innings.
The Vols' bullpen, notably Ben Joyce, did a fine job of stopping Notre Dame's red-hot bats, but the damage had already been done.
Will Mabrey gave up a three-run homer in the fourth that the Vols quite never came back from. Notre Dame scored all eight runs in the first four innings, but Tennessee never made up the ground.
A trio of solo homers, a sac fly and a two-run Trey Lipscomb double kept Tennessee within striking distance down the stretch, but the Vols did not have the ninth-inning magic in store like they did on Sunday against Georgia Tech.
Notre Dame's elite freshman left-handed pitcher Jack Findlay did enough to keep Tennessee at bay in the final innings as the Irish finished off the Vols.
Here's what happened in Tennessee's eighth loss that snapped the Vols' second-longest winning streak of the season.
Nightmare Start for Blade Tidwell
Notre Dame set the tone early for what would be five runs in the first three innings against Tennessee's starting pitcher Blade Tidwell.
The Irish started with a Ryan Cole leadoff single in the first on the very first pitch before stealing second and advancing to third on a throwing error from Evan Russell. Notre Dame three-hole hitter Carter Putz then crushed a one-out two-run blast to put the top-ranked Vols in a 2-0 hole early.
Tidwell was able to work out of the inning from there, but the sophomore continued to struggle in the second, giving up a solo homer to the Irish second baseman Jared Miller.
And it didn't stop there.
As Notre Dame starting pitcher Austin Temple kept the Vols scoreless through the first two innings, the Irish took advantage by tallying another pair of runs in the third. Tidwell was rocked once again as Notre Dame designated hitter Jack Zyska clobbered a two-run shot over the UT bullpen to bring home himself and Carter Putz, who had hit a two-out single.
The Loretto, Tennessee, native dealt a strikeout to get out of the inning, but that was the final batter he faced.
Below is Tidwell's final line from his lackluster outing, serving as a totally opposite performance from his season-best outing in the NCAA Regionals.
Final line: 3.0 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 3 K, 0 BB, 40 strikes on 52 TP against 15 batters.
Vols Get on the Scoreboard, Mabrey Takes Over, Gives Up Three More
Tennessee got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning when Jordan Beck sent a sac fly deep into center-field. Beck's sac fly was nearly a three-run homer, but it got caught up in the warning track.
The Vols couldn't do anything else in the frame to bring Seth Stephenson home, and Tennessee entered the fourth inning trailing 5-1.
Junior left-handed pitcher Will Mabrey, who was fabulous for the Big Orange in relief in the Regionals, came on to pitch in the fourth. Mabrey gave up back-to-back one-out singles before getting a groundout that advanced the baserunners to second and third with two outs.
Mabrey was in a big moment that the Cookeville, Tennessee, native has often excelled in this season.
But Mabrey couldn't come through, contributing to Tennessee's overall poor performance on the mound through four innings.
Mabrey gave up a three-run homer to Notre Dame two-hole hitter Jack Brannigan, who sent the bomb into Lindsey Nelson Stadium's left-field porches.
Tennessee trailed the Irish 8-1 after the three-run blast–the largest deficit the Vols faced all season. Notre Dame had hit four home runs and scored eight runs off those blasts through four innings and was beating Tennessee at its own game.
The Big Orange Machine had looked mortal at times during the season, but none more-so than after a nightmarish 3.2 innings.
After the homer, Mabrey's short-lived outing was over. The Volunteer Fireman was the next UT pitcher to take the mound, who walked a batter before striking out Jack Zyska with a 103 mph heater to end the top of the inning.
Trey Lipscomb gave Tennessee its second run of the game with a leadoff solo homer in the bottom of the fourth, but the Vols couldn't use Lipscomb's blast as a tool to jumpstart a big inning. Jorel Ortega and Cortland Lawson got on base to give Seth Stephenson runners on the corners with two outs, but Tennessee's leadoff man flew out to strand his teammates.
Drew Gilbert, Frank Anderson Get Tossed
After Joyce worked around a two-out single and walk to give Notre Dame their first zero on the scoreboard of the evening, a huge inning for Tennessee to try and turn the tide.
But the Vols' hopes of doing so were not fulfilled in the bottom of the frame.
With Jordan Beck on first with one-out, Drew Gilbert approached the plate for his final at-bat of the evening–and possibly–his Tennessee career. Gilbert watched 1-0 pitch get called a strike, which resulted in the junior arguing with the home plate umpire.
It didn't seem Gilbert was too heated from afar, whatever he said resulted in the umpire tossing him quickly. Gilbert's jaw dropped, and pitching coach Frank Anderson came on the field, who also received a quick hook.
"We talked as a group when we did the meeting yesterday, there's gonna be things that happen, and it's going to be an emotional game," Vitello said after the game. "[Drew] reacted to the pitch was thrown out, and Frank reacted, too. Frank wanted to make sure Drew didn't do anything to further worsen things.
UT head coach Tony Vitello also came onto the field to talk to the umpires but avoided ejection. With the tosses, Gilbert is suspended for Tennessee's Saturday game against Notre Dame, and Anderson is suspended for three games, per NCAA rules.
Freshman utility man Jared Dickey pinch-hit for Gilbert and grounded out before Trey Lipscomb did the same to end the inning and strand Beck.
On defense, Dickey assumed his midseason role in left-field while Seth Stephenson moved to center.
"Gotta have a different guy in the four-hole," Vitello said on what he will do regarding Gilbert's absence for Sunday's game. "Don't necessarily know who it'll be. But we've had other guys in that spot. Drew had the hamstring stuff earlier in the season and we mixed guys in and out. The guy we put in for him is a guy just like Drew. If I'm going down, I want to go down with that guy."
Ben Joyce Solid in Relief
Joyce dealt two more scoreless innings in the sixth and seventh against nine total batters, ending Notre Dame's threats in each inning. Joyce was heavily assisted in the seventh by Seth Stephenson, who made an incredible catch on a line drive hit by Notre Dame right-fielder Brooks Coetzee III to strand runners on first and second.
Joyce's 64-pitch outing was the second most he's thrown in a game all season–most in a relief outing–and served as a big help to stop Notre Dame's explosive offense.
Trey Lipscomb Delivers
Tennessee added a run in the bottom of the sixth off a leadoff solo homer from Jorel Ortega, but Notre Dame right-handed relief pitcher Alex Rao retired the side around it.
The Vols found more success in the seventh to cut Notre Dame's lead even more, thanks to First-Team All-SEC third baseman Trey Lipscomb.
Lipscomb approached the dish with runners on first and second with two outs, needing to deliver in a big moment.
And deliver Lipscomb did.
After a wild pitch moved the Volunteer baserunners to second and third, Lipscomb connected for a two-run double that bounced off the shortstop's glove into left-field.
Jordan Beck and Jared Dickey, who had singled and drawn a walk, respectively, came across to cut the Irish's lead to 8-5.
Lipscomb was stranded as Ortega struck out, Tennessee was well back into the thick of it heading into the eighth.
Evans, Sewell Take the Mound in the Eighth, Moore's Leadoff Walk Wasted
Freshman left Wyatt Evans got the ball to begin the eighth in his NCAA Tournament debut. Evans retired the first two batters he faced before giving up a two-out walk, which called for Tony Vitello to bring Camden Sewell out of the bullpen.
Sewell did his job, retiring Carter Putz to end the inning.
The Vols' offense didn't do much in the eighth, as Notre Dame freshman left-handed pitcher got the ball in the bottom of the eighth and retired the side around a leadoff Christian Moore walk.
Vols Can't Pull Off Comeback
Camden Sewell worked around a two-out HBP and single in the top of the ninth to give the Irish their fifth consecutive zero on the scoreboard, but the Vols could not pull off the comeback like they did in the Regional.
Jordan Beck gave Tennessee their sixth run of the night with a one-out solo homer, but Jared Dickey went down looking on what was a highly questionable third strike call that resulted in Tony Vitello coming into the field another time, and Trey Lipscomb grounded out to end the game.
Notre Dame had knocked off the Goliath of college baseball, and the Vols are one game away from being bounced in their own stadium.
Just a night where Tennessee couldn't overcome.
"Tonight, maybe just too good of a team we're playing or we dug ourselves too deep of a hole early," Vitello said on the loss. "This is the time of year where crazy stuff happens. This is chaos, welcome to it if you don't like it, talking to these guys (the players)."
The loss gives UT eight on the season, but none felt as weird as this one. Tennessee struggled against a Notre Dame lineup that was far from the Irish's strong suit. Blade Tidwell failed to continue his dominant streak, and the Vols's bats couldn't string together an inning with more than three runs.
What's Next
The Vols (56-8) will fight for their season on Saturday against the Irish at 2 p.m. ET. ESPN has the broadcast, and UT sophomore RHP Chase Dollander will start.
Tennessee has lost two games in a row only twice this season. They will have to avoid a third occurrence of that in order to force the rubber match with their season on the line.
"Just need to play good ball," Vitello said on tomorrow's game. "I don't think we played good tonight. If we're gonna answer, it's not anything special. Just come out and play good ball, because we did not today."