Tennessee enjoyed sweet revenge on Friday morning in the fourth round of the 2021 SEC Tournament with an 11-0 win over Alabama.
The Vols lost their opening game in Hoover on Wednesday afternoon to the Crimson Tide 3-2 in 11 innings. Controversy surrounded Alabama’s win after the SEC and its umpires appeared to make the wrong call on what would have been a walk-off win for the Vols.
Tennessee had to turn around the next morning and play in an elimination game against 3-seed Mississippi State. The Vols won 12-2 in eight innings thanks to the SEC Tournament’s run rule, and after Alabama fell to Florida 7-2 later in the day, a rematch with the Crimson Tide awaited on Friday morning.
Offense Strikes Early and Often
As it did in its win over Mississippi State, Tennessee’s offense struck early and often against Alabama starter Landon Green.
Vols first baseman Luc Lipcius jump-started the offense with a two-run homer to right-center in the bottom of the second, the first of six runs that Green (L, 3-2) would give up over 2.1 innings.
Tennessee struck for five runs an inning later to take a commanding 8-0 lead just three innings in. Max Ferguson sparked the barrage in the third with an RBI double, setting up Drew Gilbert to drive him in from second on an RBI single. Lipcius then drove in his third run of the game on a single. Jordan Beck then brought in a run as Alabama second baseman Peyton Wilson booted a ball before Pete Derkay singled through the right side to cap the outburst.
“Today our guys arrived at the park ready to take advantage of an opportunity they created by winning yesterday,” Tony Vitello told reporters following the game. “I really feel like our guys just like playing. We played 56 regular season games, and again they came out and took advantage of the opportunity with the leadership.
“If you look at the way their lineup plays and who's out there defensively, it's a regional team. It would be good for our conference if that happens. Not my decision, but that's the way it looked to me. So I was proud of our guys to be able to beat them today.”
Alabama went to Connor Shamblin out of the bullpen after the Vols roughed up Green. They weren’t that much kinder to Shamblin, however, as they scored the final five runs of the game off of him.
In the fourth inning, Evan Russell smoked a two-run homer out to left field to extend the Tennessee lead to 9-0. Both Russell and Lipcius’ homers completely left the ball park at the Hoover Met.
“You had a team that wasn't ready to go home,” Russell said. “You had a lineup that was ready to get back out there and play a good Alabama team. I think it showed with the swings we took. I think it showed with the at-bats we took. Everyone was kind of locked in, and we were on the attack mode. I think that's what was the difference this game.”
Tennessee’s home run parade didn’t end with Russell. Liam Spence and Ferguson led off the top of the sixth with back-to-back home runs to score the final runs of the day and make it 11-0.
The Vols hit four homers on the day, a new single-game tournament record for the program. Six different Vols have now hit a home run this week in Hoover as they’ve tallied 25 runs on 36 hits in three games.
“They’re fully capable of (hitting home runs),” Vitello said. “It is interesting because this park at times can play big on you, but to my knowledge, it's kind of played true during our games.
“If they're getting a pitch and they're putting a swing on it, I think good things are going to continue to happen for us, whether it's over the wall or some other place. I think what they did yesterday against (Mississippi State’s) arms was crazy good, and Alabama having to grind their way through this thing -- of course, like our team, missing a couple pitchers due to injury, did what they had to do today, and those guys were fine, but our guys capitalized on some pitches. When they do that, it's a strong group, and, again, they got some talent.”
The freshman phenom shines
Blade Tidwell has been tremendous down the stretch this season. If Friday’s appearance against the Crimson Tide was any indication, he’s only going to continue to get better.
The true freshman didn’t allow a run on 95 pitches in six innings of scoreless work. Tidwell (W, 8-3) allowed just two hits and two walks, and struck out five in the process of shutting down Alabama. 61 of his pitches were called strikes.
“After the Kentucky outing is when I really started getting a lot of confidence,” Tidwell said. “I think it's carried over well the last five weeks. This is getting to the nit and grit grind of the season, so it's been fun.”
The Loretto, Tennessee native's eight wins on the season are the fourth-most by a freshman in program history.
“People start to adjust in the league, different situations come up, lineups are loaded, and (Tidwell) needed to kind of grow or evolve based off of what's in our conference and therefore what's the best out there in the country,” Vitello said. “Today I think you saw all those things that.
“A very consistent approach, kept his emotions under control, delivery was smooth the whole game. I think he's grown up in front of all fans' eyes, and I think they're enjoying watching him.”
Playing for a shot at the title
For the first time since 1995, Tennessee will play in the SEC Tournament semifinals. This will mark the first time in the tournament's current format that the Vols have reached the semifinals.
Tennessee will face a familiar for when first pitch arrives at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. The Vols will take on the Florida Gators, who didn’t play on Friday after avoiding the losers bracket with a win over Alabama on Thursday.
“Really excited,” Vitello said. “We’ve got some guys that are fresh, some guys that have experience that will be ready to go. We'll just kind of sit down at the hotel as a coaching staff and start with whatever we think the first option is and look at it.”
