SEC Tournament Notebook: Vols fall to Alabama on questionable call

The Vols got off to slow start against 11-seed Alabama, tallying just four hits over the first six innings as Crimson Tide starter Jacob McNairy kept them off of the scoreboard until the seventh inning.

Tennessee eventually tied it in the seventh inning courtesy of two runs. Following the Connor Pavolony and Liam Spence RBI single, the Vols had all of the momentum heading into the later innings.

That momentum carried into the ninth inning as the Vols had the winning run on third with no outs after Christian Scott — who hadn’t had an at-bat in SEC play since May 9 — singled to lead off the inning. After another Pavolony single and an intentional walk to Max Ferguson, the Vols had the bases loaded with one out.

Bad call costs Vols

Utter chaos set in with Jake Rucker at the plate. Tennessee’s third baseman hit a hard ball back up the middle, but right at Alabama shortstop Jim Jarvis, who flipped it over to second baseman Peyton Wilson for the second out, and then tossed it over to first for a potential inning-ending double play, except the throw sailed high and Scott scored the winning run from third…. Until he didn’t.

In the midst of the Vols celebrating what was thought to be a walk-off, second base umpire Scott Cline determined that Ferguson had made contact with Wilson when sliding into second, thus triggering runners interference which resulted in Ferguson and Rucker being out. Instead of Tennessee advancing to face Florida on Thursday afternoon, the game headed to extra innings.

“I saw Max slide straight into the base,” Vitello told reporters after the game. “That's why I was pointing to the slide mark there. He slid straight into the base. The replay — I just checked the replay one time to see what my opinion was. I didn't ask (Ferguson) what was going on, if he was protecting his face or whatever.

“We want to play ball hard. There's teams here probably with more talent than us, so we want to play hard, and we anticipate or expect our guys to run as fast as they can from point A to point B. In my opinion, that's what (Jake) Rucker and (Max) Fergie did in that situation.”

According to the rulebook

In the NCAA rulebook, it states that “contact with a fielder is legal and interference shall not be called if the runner makes a legal slide directly to the base and in the baseline extended.”

Ferguson did slide directly into the bag, did not exit the basepath and there was nothing malicious about the slide either. Simply put, the umpires and SEC got the call wrong. And now the Vols must pay for it by facing elimination at 9:30 a.m. local time on Thursday morning.

Vols had their chances

Though the SEC did get the call wrong on the field and we should be discussing a Tennessee win, the Vols had their chances at the plate to not put themselves in that situation. They left 11 runners on base and did so in five of the 11 innings. Though they tallied 10 hits for the game, they were 2-for-12 with runners in scoring position.

The statistics aren’t pretty, but they don’t necessarily tell the entire story. Tennessee hit the ball hard all day long, but right at an Alabama defender more often than not.

“It's frustrating internally,” Vitello said. “I think both teams had some well-struck balls today. I don't know if we had more or not, just locking in on our guys. At times bats were really good, and they didn't get rewarded, but that's the nature of the beast, and it also kind of comes with the territory of playing here. A lot of times, the park will play big, but for the most part, I was just pleased with the preparation.

“The game before us got cut short, so we literally rolled right off the bus and on the field. The guys were ready. Will Heflin continues to be a leader on this team in a lot of different ways. Again, I think right out of the chute, especially with Fergie's at bat, the guys were ready to play ball.”

Strong outing from Frank Anderson’s staff

Heflin led the charge for what was a good day on the bump for pitching coach Frank Anderson’s staff.

The senior lefty allowed two earned runs on four hits, while walking two and striking out two. Heflin threw 59 pitches and could potentially pitch later in the weekend if the Vols hang around that long.

“I love him,” Vitello said of Heflin. “He's earned everybody's respect around here as a starter, as a person.

“He's one of the big reasons why we're in this position. And then because he was so efficient -- I mean, that's maybe an emotional answer, but if there's any upside to it, we were fortunate that Will was efficient with his pitch count against South Carolina. We decided to go with (Camden) Sewell, just like we did today, to get us out of a jam at South Carolina, but he only ended up with 60 pitches. We feel grateful for the way he threw today in a lot of different ways, and one way is that Chad and Blade can stay on task.”

“Yeah, I had good command of my fastball early on, and I was able to land the off-speed, which is always a big -- it's necessary for me to have success,” Heflin added. “That's kind of the way it went, and they hit a couple balls right at us, and they played really sharp on defense behind me the whole day.”

Sewell and Sean Hunley completed the outing after Heflin was pulled in the sixth inning, combing to allow just one run — although the winning run — over the last 5.2 innings.

Win or Go Home

Tennessee now turns its attention to Mississippi State, who the Vols will face bright and early on Thursday morning.

The Bulldogs are coming off of a 13-1 loss to Florida in their opening game of the SEC Tournament. They now turn to their ace Christian MacLeod (5-1, 3.14). The Vols will do the same in turning to Chad Dallas (9-1, 4.29 ERA) in the win or go home game.

“I have full confidence that we'll come out tomorrow really ready to play, focused on one thing, and that's getting the win,” Luc Lipcius said.