Published Mar 25, 2023
Tennessee walks off Texas A&M to claim first SEC series of the year
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Ryan Sylvia  •  VolReport
Assistant Managing Editor
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On Friday, Tennessee took down Texas A&M 10-4 to earn its first SEC win of the year.

With a chance to claim the series on Saturday, the Vols fell into a mid-game deficit.

Despite this, Tennessee stormed back to take the game 8-7 over the Aggies.

The deciding run proved to be a Jared Dickey fly ball to right field in the bottom of the ninth. With a runner on first and third, it easily scored the winning run giving the team a walk-off win.

"I was pretty much just thinking hit the ball up the middle," said Dickey. "... After seeing that curveball out, I knew they were going to try to challenge me with a heater in just to try to get me to roll over and get the out at home. Got my hands to it and went to work."

Before these late-game heroics, the match featured its fair share of lead changes.

To start, Texas A&M plated two runs in the top of the first on a Jack Moss home run.

The Vols (18-6, 2-3 SEC) then grabbed one run back in the bottom of the first due to a single by Blake Burke.

In the second inning, they claimed the lead with a Maui Ahuna two-run double and Christian Moore sacrifice fly.

With a 4-2 lead after two frames, Tennessee's starting pitcher, Chase Burns, began to dominate.

In the middle of his start, Burns sat down 12-straight batters. He was seemingly untouchable as he either produced strikeouts or weak contact in every at-bat.

However, Burns ran into trouble with two outs in the sixth inning.

The right-handed pitcher gave up a single and then double to move the tying run into scoring position. Two pitches into the next at-bat, Jace LaViollete smacked a double down the left field line to knot the score at four.

The rally didn't end there, though. After loading the bases with a pair of walks, Burns was pulled and Kirby Connell entered the game.

Despite the pitching change, Connell couldn't get out of the jam. He walked in another run on the first batter he faced. Then, he induced a ground ball, but Zane Denton couldn't field it cleanly leading to another score.

Finally, the two-out push was finalized with a ground out.

In the next inning, the Aggies (15-8, 1-4) added another run. However, the Vols stormed back in the bottom of the frame.

With two outs, Tennessee combined for three runs to tie the match at seven. It took a Hunter Ensley single, Dickey triple and a wild pitch to move the runs across.

After the Vols managed to tie the game, Andrew Lindsey came on in relief. He pitched 2.1 innings while failing to give up a hit and striking out four batters.

This effort kept the Aggies at bay while Tennessee went on to win.

"I really didn't know the score coming into it," said Lindsey. "I just knew there was an opportunity to throw strikes and get outs. Did what I did. Our offense came back and gave us good runs and tied it up."

This comeback is a positive sign following a disappointing weekend at Missouri. When the Vols trailed last week, they couldn't climb out of the hole.

This time, the energy remained high and a win was captured.

Next, Tennessee will go for the sweep on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET in Knoxville. It would be the first sweep over an SEC opponent of the season for the Vols.

Drew Beam will take the mound in the attempt.