KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The bats were red hot in No. 14 Tennessee’s 14-9 victory over UNC Greensboro on Saturday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium as the Big Orange finished with a season-high 20 hits to clinch another series win.
The Volunteers (13-3) battled back from three- and four-run deficits early on before pulling away in the sixth and seventh innings.
Nine players had hits and seven drove in runs for UT on Saturday, led by senior Pete Derkay, who tied a career high with four base knocks. The Georgia native also walked, scored three runs and had two RBI on the night.
Liam Spence (3-for-5), Jake Rucker (3-for-4) and Luc Lipcius (3-for-5) also tied their career highs in hits and combined to score seven runs.
Sophomore pitcher Mark McLaughlin picked up his first win of the season after tossing five solid innings in relief. The right hander tied a career high with six strikeouts and allowed just one hit in five scoreless innings before giving up a pair of hits and runs in the ninth.
Tennessee entered the bottom of the sixth trailing 7-4 but exploded for six runs on four hits in the inning to jump out to a 11-7 lead. Max Ferguson, Jackson Greer, Drew Gilbert, Jordan Beck and Lipcius all drove in runs for the Big Orange in the inning. The Vols added three more runs in the seventh to take a commanding 14-7 lead and put the game away.
Despite the success at the plate for Tennessee, it was the Spartans (10-4) who jumped out to an early lead with three runs in the top of the second inning. Jake Madole opened the scoring with a two-run homer and Dallas Callahan singled to bring in another run a few batters later.
The Vols answered right back with three runs of their own in the bottom of the second. A sac fly from Greer, RBI triple from Spence and RBI single from Derkay tied the game at three before UNCG took the lead right back with four tuns in the third inning.
A leadoff solo home run off the bat of Lipcius cut UT’s deficit to three in the fourth inning. The redshirt senior slugger hammered the first pitch he saw over the wall in right field for his third home run of the year to give the Vols some momentum before their offensive explosion in the sixth and seventh innings.
Hogan Windish and Madole led UNCG’s offensive attack with a home run and three RBI each. Price King got the loss after giving up three runs in just 0.1 innings pitched.
UT will look to sweep its second straight weekend series in tomorrow’s finale, which is slated to begin at 1 p.m. and will be streamed live on SEC Network Plus.
NOTABLE
LOTS OF OFFENSE: Tennessee’s bats have woken up this weekend after being shut out in Tuesday’s midweek loss at Charlotte. The Vols finished with a season-high 20 hits in Saturday’s win with nine different players recording at least one hit and six players finishing with multiple hits on the night.
For the series, UT is batting .417 as a team and has recorded 30 total hits, 10 of which have gone for extra bases.
SUPER SENIORS: The Vols’ senior duo of Pete Derkay and Luc Lipcius had a night to remember as both players tied career highs in hits with four and three, respectively. Derkay also tied a career high with three runs scored and reached base five times. Lipcius pulled into a tie for the team lead in home runs after hitting his third of the year and finished with a team-high three RBI on the night.
BIG INNINGS FROM McLAUGHLIN: Mark McLaughlin came up big for the Vols on a night where senior starter Will Heflin struggled and was pulled early on. The sophomore right hander was able to keep the hot-hitting Spartans at bay and allow time for UT’s offense to rally.
McLaughlin allowed just one hit in five consecutive scoreless innings from the fourth to the eighth and tied a career high with six strikeouts to earn his first win of the year.
Box Score (PDF) | DOWNLOAD: Postgame Media Videos (Vitello, Derkay, McLaughlin)
-UT Athletics
