Vols Close Out Sweep of Aggies

Sunday, March 26

Knoxville, Tenn.

12:00 PM

Texas A&M

15-9, 1-5

Tennessee

19-6, 3-3

Texas A&M

Tennessee

Photo by: Hayden Carroll

Mar 26, 2023 | Baseball

Box Score

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 21 Texas A&M Aggies dropped the series finale, 9-6, on Sunday to No. 12 Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Texas A&M (15-9, 1-5 SEC) put across runs in the first, fourth and fifth innings but could not piece together a multi-run inning until the ninth. Meanwhile the Volunteers (19-6, 3-3 SEC) closed out the sweep with five straight scoring innings of their own.

Freshman Justin Lamkin got his first weekend start as an Aggie and put up a pair of zeros on the board before the Tennessee offense began to find success. He worked into the fifth inning and finished with six strikeouts but was touched up for six runs on eight hits, taking the loss to fall to 1-2 for the season.

The Vols only got 4.1 innings from starter Drew Beam; however, Seth Halvorsen got the win with 0.2 innings of work after working out of a jam in the fifth. He was one of eight Tennessee relievers to get time on the mound.

Jack Moss homered for the second straight game and drove in two, while Jace LaViolette continued to swing the bat well with his second three-hit game of the year which included a double and a run scored.

Zane Denton went 3-for-3 for Tennessee, homering twice and driving in five runs on a day that saw the Vols rack up 12 hits against three Aggie pitchers.

TOP AGGIE PERFORMERS
Jack Moss – 1-for-4, HR, 2 RBI, R
Jace LaViolette – 3-for-4, 2B, RBI, R, SB, BB
Hunter Haas – 2-for-4, RBI, R

UP NEXT
The Aggies will return to Bryan-College Station to host the Texas Longhorns on Tuesday at Blue Bell Park.

First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT. The game will be aired on SEC Network.

GAME SUMMARY
T1| TAMU 1, TENN 0
Drew Beam had no problem retiring the first two Aggies of the day but wasn't so fortunate with Moss. The A&M first baseman mimicked his Saturday feat with a home run, this of the solo variety, over the left-center field wall. The play was originally called a double, but a challenge by Jim Schlossnagle was successful and registered Moss' third homer in his last five games.

B3| TENN 2, TAMU 1
Lamkin put up consecutive zeros to open the day but allowed his first hit of the game to Hunter Ensley to open up the third inning. Two batters later Zane Denton blasted a two-run homer over the left-field grandstand to surge the Vols ahead.

T4| TAMU 2, TENN 2
Jace LaViolette's second hit of the day went for two bases with one out in the inning and a wild pitch allowed him to advance another 90 feet to third base. Trevor Werner then brought him home and tied the game with a sacrifice fly to center field.

B4| TENN 3, TAMU 2
The Vols didn't get an extra-base hit, but strung together three singles to retake the lead. Jared Dickey got the first and after a strikeout to Cal Stark, Ensley followed with a two-out knock of his own. Christian Scott then lined a base hit to right field to plate Dickey and put Tennessee back in front.

T5| TAMU 3, TENN 3
Consecutive singles by Hank Bard and Jordan Thompson immediately put the Aggies in business in the fifth, but a diving play by Scott in right field took away a sure extra-base hit off the bat of Kasen Wells and spoiled what could have been a big inning for A&M. Still, the Aggies were able to knot things up, moving the runners a base apiece on a passed ball and tying it on a sacrifice fly to the wall off the bat of Hunter Haas.

B5| TENN 6, TAMU 3
It took just one pitch for the Vols to go back ahead as Denton ambushed the first pitch of the fifth from Lamkin for his second homer of the day, a solo shot out over the left-center field fence. Consecutive one-out singles by Christian Moore and Blake Burke chased Lamkin from the hill, but two batters later it was Dylan Dreiling who provided the separating hit for Tennessee, driving home two on a double just inside the left-field line to push the lead to 6-3.

B7| TENN 9, TAMU 3
Dickey and Dreiling each walked to open up the inning against Aggie reliever Brandyn Garcia. The Vols elected to bunt the runners up and it paid off in favor of Denton again after he singled home his fourth and fifth RBI of the day two batters later.

T9| TENN 9, TAMU 6
With only three outs left to play with, the Aggies made things interesting when Kaeden Kent pinch hit and drew a walk to open the frame, followed by singles by Stanley Tucker and Haas. However, the Ags weren't able to come up with a breakthrough hit, instead scoring on a grounders by Moss and Austin Bost and a sacrifice fly from LaViolette.

FOLLOW THE AGGIES
Visit 12thman.com for more information on Texas A&M baseball. Fans can keep up to date with the A&M baseball team on Facebook, Instagram, and on Twitter by following @AggieBaseball.