University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Wednesday, April 19
Knoxville, TN
6 PM
UNC Asheville
15-22
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Tennessee
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UNC Asheville
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Tennessee
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Photo by: UNC Asheville
Late Heroics Not Enough as Bulldogs Fall 5-2 at Tennessee
04.19.2017 | Baseball
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The UNC Asheville baseball team had the tying run at the plate with two runners on and two outs in the ninth inning Wednesday night, but the Tennessee Volunteers were able to get out of the jam to hold on for the 5-2 win at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Outside of a three-run third inning for the Volunteers (19-15) and despite a couple of miscues, the Bulldogs (15-22) were able to match the SEC squad tit for tat for much of the game. UNC Asheville received a couple of timely hits and the Bulldogs were a couple of big plays away from recording a different result.
After jumping out to the 3-0 lead, the Vols extended the lead out to 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth with a single unearned run. Tennessee's first four runs were all unearned.
The Bulldogs broke up the shutout in the top of the eighth when Joe Tietjen scored after the Tennessee pitcher overthrew his first basemen with two outs. Tietjen, who walked earlier in the inning, rounded third and raced home as the ball sailed high and bounced into foul territory. Carmine Pagano was then able to make it to third, but a flyout to center field ended the Bulldog threat.
Tennessee appeared to have canceled out the small gain with a run in the bottom of the inning, but the Bulldogs continued to fight and claw to the end.
In the top of the ninth, Joe Gruszka scored after drawing a walk as a pinch hitter and the Bulldogs put two runners on with two outs, bringing the tying run to the plate. However, the Tennessee closer struck out the final batter to secure the 5-2 win and end the threat.
Danny Wilson, Tyler Serricchio and Tanner Bush all recorded a hit in the game with Serricchio's being a double.
On the mound, freshman Blake Brown earned the start and gave the Bulldogs two solid innings that saw him strike out two batters. Nick Boyles (0-5) became the pitcher of record as he pitched two-thirds of the third inning. Austin Fahr, Kole Harris, Jesse Juday, Justin Woods and Eric Whitecavage all saw action on the bump.
Eric Freeman (1-0) earned his first win of the season for Tennessee, pitching 2.2 frames in which he struck out a game-high four batters. The Vols utilized five other pitchers in the game.
BULLDOG BITES
CATCHING GREEDY RUNNERS: Wednesday night marked the fifth-straight game that the Bulldogs have caught at least one runner attempting to steal. Tyler Serricchio caught a runner attempting to steal second Wednesday evening. Joe Gruszka gunned down six runners over the last four games, including one in Tuesday's game and three last Saturday at High Point. Justin Woods also picked off a runner that took too big of a lead at second Tuesday night against USC Upstate.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs next travel to Buies Creek, N.C., to take on Campbell in a three-game Big South Conference series. The series starts on Friday, April 21, with a 6 p.m. first pitch. Saturday's game will get started at 3 p.m. and Sunday's series finale will feature a 2 p.m. first pitch.
QUOTABLES
"We have a great opportunity in front of us this weekend at Campbell. We need to bring focus and confidence to each game, inning, at-bat and pitch. We lost that focus tonight and it cost us with unearned runs, poorly executed at-bats and extra base runners via the walk or hit by pitch. We need to clean up our game if we expect a different outcome at Campbell." – Scott Friedholm
Outside of a three-run third inning for the Volunteers (19-15) and despite a couple of miscues, the Bulldogs (15-22) were able to match the SEC squad tit for tat for much of the game. UNC Asheville received a couple of timely hits and the Bulldogs were a couple of big plays away from recording a different result.
After jumping out to the 3-0 lead, the Vols extended the lead out to 4-0 in the bottom of the sixth with a single unearned run. Tennessee's first four runs were all unearned.
The Bulldogs broke up the shutout in the top of the eighth when Joe Tietjen scored after the Tennessee pitcher overthrew his first basemen with two outs. Tietjen, who walked earlier in the inning, rounded third and raced home as the ball sailed high and bounced into foul territory. Carmine Pagano was then able to make it to third, but a flyout to center field ended the Bulldog threat.
Tennessee appeared to have canceled out the small gain with a run in the bottom of the inning, but the Bulldogs continued to fight and claw to the end.
In the top of the ninth, Joe Gruszka scored after drawing a walk as a pinch hitter and the Bulldogs put two runners on with two outs, bringing the tying run to the plate. However, the Tennessee closer struck out the final batter to secure the 5-2 win and end the threat.
Danny Wilson, Tyler Serricchio and Tanner Bush all recorded a hit in the game with Serricchio's being a double.
On the mound, freshman Blake Brown earned the start and gave the Bulldogs two solid innings that saw him strike out two batters. Nick Boyles (0-5) became the pitcher of record as he pitched two-thirds of the third inning. Austin Fahr, Kole Harris, Jesse Juday, Justin Woods and Eric Whitecavage all saw action on the bump.
Eric Freeman (1-0) earned his first win of the season for Tennessee, pitching 2.2 frames in which he struck out a game-high four batters. The Vols utilized five other pitchers in the game.
BULLDOG BITES
CATCHING GREEDY RUNNERS: Wednesday night marked the fifth-straight game that the Bulldogs have caught at least one runner attempting to steal. Tyler Serricchio caught a runner attempting to steal second Wednesday evening. Joe Gruszka gunned down six runners over the last four games, including one in Tuesday's game and three last Saturday at High Point. Justin Woods also picked off a runner that took too big of a lead at second Tuesday night against USC Upstate.
UP NEXT
The Bulldogs next travel to Buies Creek, N.C., to take on Campbell in a three-game Big South Conference series. The series starts on Friday, April 21, with a 6 p.m. first pitch. Saturday's game will get started at 3 p.m. and Sunday's series finale will feature a 2 p.m. first pitch.
QUOTABLES
"We have a great opportunity in front of us this weekend at Campbell. We need to bring focus and confidence to each game, inning, at-bat and pitch. We lost that focus tonight and it cost us with unearned runs, poorly executed at-bats and extra base runners via the walk or hit by pitch. We need to clean up our game if we expect a different outcome at Campbell." – Scott Friedholm
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Eric Freeman (1-0)
L: Boyles, Nick (0-5)
Batting:
2B: Serricchio, Tyler 1
RBI: Bush, Tanner 1
SH: Bush, Tanner 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Tietjen, Joe 1 ; Gruszka, Joe 1
SB: Tietjen, Joe 1 ; Bush, Tanner 1
HBP: Wilson, Danny 1
PO: Wilson, Danny 1
Batting:
2B: Jeff Moberg 1
RBI: Jeff Moberg 1 ; Luc Lipcius 1 ; Matt Waldren 1
SH: Max Bartlett 1 ; Matt Waldren 1
SF: Matt Waldren 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jeff Moberg 1 ; Jordan Rodgers 1 ; Dom Thornton 1 ; Max Bartlett 1 ; Matt Waldren 1
CS: Andre Lipcius 1
HBP: Jeff Moberg 1 ; Pete Derkay 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
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RHP
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/ Baseball
LHP
/ Baseball
C
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballINF/RHP
/ Baseball
OF/RHP
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