KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – On Sunday, the Florida Gators and Tennessee Volunteers wrapped their weekend series to open SEC play at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols swept over the Gators and won 7-4 during the final game.
Breaking down Tennessee’s Bullpen Day
Freshman Tegan Kuhns got the start for the Volunteers in Sunday’s game in what would be a bullpen day. He went 2 and 2/3 innings, giving up no earned runs. He also struck out three batters and gave up just one hit.
Brandon Arvidson came in after and ran into some problems due to errors by the Tennessee fielders. He and Tanner Franklin both went 2/3 of an inning each.
Dylan Loy came in and put out any fire Florida was building offensively. He ate three innings of work up and struck out five Gator batters. He also gave up only one hit and did not walk anybody.
Nate Snead came on in relief for the second time the weekend after Loy. He closed out the game’s final two innings for his second save of the weekend and his third one for the season. To end the game, he struck out Luke Heyman and Hayden Yost in back-to-back at-bats.
The bullpen day had some ups and downs. All in all, it was a successful one for head coach Tony Vitello’s pitching staff.
Reese Chapman Comes up Big for the Second Day in a Row
After walking off Saturday’s game with a home run, Reese Chapman hit another home run on Sunday in the eighth inning. This two-run shot extended Tennessee’s lead out to 7-4.
Chapman leaves SEC opening weekend against Florida as one of the Volunteers’ standout players. Throughout all three games, he had six RBI.
Entering Sunday, he was batting .344 in the season.
The Tennessee right fielder seems to get better throughout his career as he receives more and more at-bats.
Up Next
This season, the Tennessee Volunteers are now 3-0 in SEC play and 20-0 overall. Florida falls to 16-5 overall and is 0-3 to begin conference play.
Both teams have midweek games coming up. Tennessee will host East Tennessee State at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, and Florida will travel back to Gainesville to play Jacksonville at Condron Family Ballpark.
The first pitch for Tennessee’s game is at 5 p.m. EST, and the first pitch for Florida’s game is at 6:30 p.m. EST.
Both games are on Tuesday, Mar. 18.
WBN NCAA: https://worldbaseball.com/league/ncaa/
Photo from Tennessee Athletics
