Barrelfest led to Vols' surge late in opener against Auburn
No. 1 Tennessee pulled off an unfathomable win over No. 19 Auburn on Friday night to take the opener in the series.
The Vols tallied just three hits over the first six innings and as a result, trailed 4-2 going into the bottom of the seventh inning.
It felt like they were well on their way to just their second SEC loss of the season. That is until super-senior Evan Russell sparked UT’s dynamic offense with a lead off double.
After Russell’s knock, Seth Stephenson punched a single through the right side to set up Cortland Lawson for an RBI single that made it a one-run game. After Christian Moore singled, the bases were loaded with no outs for Jorel Ortega.
On a 1-2 count, Ortega crushed a grand slam to left field to give the Vols a 7-4 lead. They never looked back.
“The dominoes fell after, you know, there were some grinder moments in the trenches,” Tony Vitello said following the game. “Some tension was kind of relieved there, kind of taking off the cap a little bit from the middle innings. And then early in the game, it was just kind of awkward, with how everything went down. Obviously, I don't know that it was the right thing to say, but I told (Auburn coach Butch Thompson) that I hope his two guys are fine. And boy, do you want to beat the Friday starter on the other team, but you don't want it to kind of go down like that.
“And then it kind of slipped into a deal where we just had a lull for whatever reason. I mean, a couple guys squared some balls up. But the cap needed to come off, and it came off kind of in extreme fashion there.”
Two Auburn pitchers had to be pulled from the series opener. First, it was Tigers starting lefty Hayden Mullins who lasted just 1.2 innings before having to be pulled for what appeared to be an elbow injury.
Later in the game, closer Blake Burkhalter, who leads the SEC with 11 saves, had to be pulled for an apparent hamstring injury. Burkhalter gave up the grand slam to Ortega before immediately being pulled, but only after the trainers had to come check on him in the middle of the at-bat.
Ortega went down 0-2 in the count, and after he fouled a pitch off, Auburn’s trainers came out to check on Burkhalter. Despite the delay in the middle of his at-bat, Ortega crushed the next pitch to give UT the lead.
“Jorel, if you know him, is kind of what you want a baseball player to be,” Vitello said. “There’s a lot of downtime, and he's got the ability to kind of switch back and forth of being real relaxed and kind of having fun and bouncing around to the point where it drives you crazy. I mean, (pitching coach Frank Anderson) is always talking about him talking to umpires and stuff like that in between pitches. But then when the pitch is in play, he's locked in.
“And I think part of it is his passion for baseball just allows him to lock in. But also he's a fun-loving kid, so it allows him to relax. And that was the most extreme version of having to hang out, and then it's time to play ball. And he executed, again, in pretty extreme fashion there.”
Ortega’s grand slam sparked an eight-run seventh inning, capped by a three-run Evan Russell home run in the frame to give the Vols a six-run lead after seven.
Tennessee didn’t stop there. It went on to score seven runs in the eighth inning. Blake Burke hit a pinch-hit home run and Ortega hit his second homer to go back-to-back. After Drew Gilbert hit an RBI single, Trey Lipscomb and Russell each hit two-run home runs to round out the inning.
In total, the Vols scored 15 runs on 16 hits in the seventh and eighth innings to win 17-4. They did so courtesy of six home runs.
“It was a barrelfest,” Ortega said.
With the six home run night, Tennessee hit its 100th homer of the season in just the 42nd game. With three weeks left in the regular season, plus the postseason, UT is only seven homers away from tying the program record of 107.
Tennessee’s 19 hits and six home runs were the most against an SEC team this season.
“That’s a pretty unique deal that went on, and the odds of replicating it aren't great,” Vitello said. “If you take confidence from tonight, and have some more of those scratch-and-claw at-bats, then you're likely to have success.”
The Vols will go for the series win over Auburn on Saturday night at 7 p.m. ET on the SEC Network.