Arizona State fell to Tennessee in the second game of the series, 11-2. The Sun Devils’ defense committed four errors as Adam McCreery suffered his first loss of the year.
McCreery struggled to get first pitch strikes, finishing the day with six hits, five runs, and two strikeouts. Alex Blackford came in to relieve McCreery in the fifth, but could not get any help from his offense. He struck out five Volunteers but gave up three runs, making a comeback nearly impossible.
Freshman Eric Melbostad found himself on the mound for the first time this season and had a decent outing after only allowing one base runner in the inning. The ASU pitching staff combined to clunk four batters.
After going back and forth for two innings with it tied 2-2, Tennessee was able to pull out in front 4-2 after three innings. The Vols score five runs in the fifth inning and UT added two more in the seventh to make it 11-2.
The top three batters in Tennessee’s lineup, Will Maddox, Jeff Moberg and Scott Price went a combined 4-12 with 5 RBIs on the afternoon.
Defensively, it was not a good outing for the Sun Devils. Four errors, a few wild pitches, and one catcher’s interference call really hurt ASU. The errors hurt the most in the fifth inning, where a defensive meltdown seemed to be taking place.
In that inning, the catcher’s interference, one wild pitch, and an error allowed Tennessee to bat around and break the game open. What was a close 4-2 game in the top of the fifth became a 9-2 trouncing by the end of it, and two more runs in the seventh were just extra padding for UT.
ASU struggled to get anything going offensively beyond the second inning. The Sun Devils were hitting right at UT players and could not capitalize with runners in scoring position. After freshman Tony DiMartino sent his solo shot sailing well beyond the right field wall in the top of the second, ASU couldn’t find its rhythm against freshman Drake Owenby, who threw four scoreless innings in relief after replacing Aaron Quillen in the fourth.
The series will be decided on Sunday, with the first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m Arizona time.
