Join hundreds of other Tennessee fans in our game thread where you can follow along for live play-by-play updates and commentary from Tennessee's trip to Houston for the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic.
First pitch: 4 p.m. ET
Watch: MLB Network, MLB App, Houston Astros' social media feed
Listen: Click here
Live Stats: Click here
Starting Lineup:
Here’s four quick takeaways from Tennessee’s win over Baylor down in Houston:
Rounding 1st — Handling adversity
Tennessee wanted to see how it would handle adversity this weekend and it quickly found out.
The Vols lost to Texas on Friday night to open its trip to Houston and then dug an early hole in Saturday’s game against Baylor by giving up four runs in the top of the first inning. Tennessee quickly dug out of the hole by immediately responding with four runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning.
Tennessee went on to score 10 unanswered runs to beat Baylor 10-5.
Rounding 2nd — Connell puts the staff on his back
Kirby Connell put Tennessee’s pitching staff on his back. Starting righty Chase Dollander struggled in his third start with the Vols and could only make it through three innings of work.
Tony Vitello elected to roll with Kirby Connell out of the bullpen to start the fourth inning and the junior lefty never looked back. He went on to pitch four consecutive scoreless innings and didn’t give up a run until his final inning of work in the fifth.
Connell finished with four strikeouts in 4.2 innings of work. He allowed four hits and just one walk on 58 pitches.
Rounding 3rd — Dickey leads the way
Tennessee redshirt-freshman Jared Dickey led the way for the Vols at the plate. Vitello’s new leadoff hitter finished 3-for-5 at the plate with two doubles and two runs scored. He’s now hitting .615 on the season.
Dickey sparked Tennessee’s four-run bottom of the first to respond to Baylor’s four-run top of the first. Dickey hit a leadoff double and the Vols never looked back.
Headed for Home — Drew Gilbert leaves early
Tennessee starting centerfielder Drew Gilbert left in the fifth inning of Saturday’s game after not running out a ground ball to shortstop due to injury.
Tony Vitello told Volquest that Gilbert is dealing with a hamstring injury and should be able to play on Sunday against Oklahoma “in some capacity.”
Key Plays:
T-1st: Baylor 4 (+4), Tennessee 0
Baylor struck for four runs in the top of the first to take a 4-0 lead. It all started with a hit by pitch and a walk with no outs. The Bears then hit an RBI single, a two-run double and a sac fly off of Tennessee starter Chase Dollander.
B-1st: Baylor 4, Tennessee 4 (+4)
Tennessee immediately responded with four runs of its own to tie the game at four. After Jared Dickey led off the inning with a double, Jorel Ortega hit an RBI double to get the Vols on the board.
Jordan Beck then single to put runners on the corners to set Drew Gilbert up for an RBI single and Trey Lipscomb for a sacrifice fly to deep center.
B-2nd: Baylor 4, Tennessee 5 (+1)
Tennessee took the lead in the second. After Cortland Lawson drew a one-out walk, Jared Dickey hit a double down the right field and Baylor's throw from right fielder went into the dugout allowing Lawson to score and give the Vols a 5-4 lead.
B-3rd: Baylor 4, Tennessee 9 (+4)
Tennessee tallied four runs in the third to take a commanding 9-4 lead. After Drew Gilbert singled and Luc Lipcius walked to start the inning, Evan Russell hit a two-run double. Left fielder Christian Scott then hit an opposite field two-run homer.
T-4th: Baylor 4, Tennessee 9
LHP Kirby Connell (0-0, 0.00 ER) took over on the mound for Chase Dollander to start the fourth and with Tennessee leading 9-4.
Dollander's final line: 3.0 IP, 2 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 4 K, HBP
B-6th: Baylor 4, Tennessee 10 (+1)
Tennessee added to its lead with an RBI double from Jorel Ortega in the sixth.
T-8th: Baylor 5 (+1), Tennessee 10
Kirby Connell came back out for the eighth inning and recorded two outs, but still allowed runners to get on first and second. Tony Vitello elected to go to Ben Joyce out of the bullpen and although Joyce was greeted by an RBI single, he got a ground ball to third to get Tennessee out of the jam.
Final Box Score
Post Game Interviews
This Week's Schedule
Tuesday, February 22
Midweek game – ETSU (1) vs. No. 17 Tennessee (4)
Friday, March 4 — Shriners Childrens
Game 1 – No. 17 Tennessee (2) vs. No. 1 Texas (7)
Saturday, March 5 — Shriners Childrens
Game 2 – Baylor (5) vs. No. 17 Tennessee (10)
Sunday, March 6 — Shriners Childrens
Game 3 – No. 17 Tennessee vs. Oklahoma -- 12 p.m. ET
