Tennessee’s baseball team secured its third straight win with a 7-1 victory over East Tennessee State University (ETSU) at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Tuesday night. The Volunteers, ranked No. 17/19 nationally, relied on strong pitching performances and timely hitting to control the game.
ETSU took an early lead in the first inning after loading the bases and scoring on a sacrifice fly by Axel Melendez. However, Tennessee quickly responded in the bottom of the inning. With runners on second and third and no outs, Blaine Brown hit a double to right-center field that drove in two runs, giving Tennessee a lead it maintained for the rest of the game.
The Volunteers added two more runs in the first inning with hits from Reese Chapman and Chris Newstrom. In the fourth inning, Newstrom doubled and scored on an RBI single from Manny Marin to extend Tennessee’s advantage.
Henry Ford contributed to Tennessee’s offense with a two-run home run in the sixth inning, making it 7-1.
Tennessee’s bullpen was effective throughout the game. Brady Frederick entered in relief during a difficult situation in the first inning and limited ETSU to one run while recording three shutout innings against his former team. He was credited with the win. Relievers Cam Appenzeller, Brandon Arvidson, Mark Hindy, and Bo Rhudy combined for 12 strikeouts and did not allow any ETSU runner past second base after the opening frame.
Four Volunteers had multiple hits during the contest: Chapman went 3-for-3 while Ford, Newstrom, and Jay Abernathy each collected two hits as part of Tennessee’s 11-hit effort.
Tennessee will look to continue its winning streak when it hosts Oakland Golden Grizzlies at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Wednesday at 4 p.m.
