Vols in tie for first

UT center fielder Jordan Czarniecki tried to steal the key to the broom closet against Georgia with seven stolen bases in their three game series this weekend, but after two UT victories, the Dawgs Marshall Szabo hit an eighth inning fence-clearer to score the two deciding runs and salvage Sunday’s game for U of G.
UT went 2-1 against visiting Georgia by unshouldering their bats in resurgent swings as the Vols pounded out 34 runs on 42 hits against the Dawgs. Tennessee began their weekend series in a three-way logjam for second in the SEC East and came out in a two-way tie for first with South Carolina. UT holds the tiebreaker over the Gamecocks due to a three-game sweep of USC in Knoxville last month.
Friday: Vols 12, Dawgs 9
Jimbo Watson’s pinch hit single sparked a five run UT rally in the seventh that carried over to a five-run eighth as UT came from 7-2 down to take game one away from a hungry Georgia squad. U of G limped in with a 2-10 SEC record after four series against the dominant conference teams of the west division.
UT struck first. In the second inning Brian Cleveland bounced a double off the John Deere sign to set up the Vols. Georgia starter Sean Ruthven sat the next two batters, but Nick Crowe tattooed an RBI double over the heads of the Dawgs outfield. Czarniecki was plunked for the fourth time this season and Alley’s single brought home Crowe before Javi Herrera’s fly out ended the inning. Herrera had an uncharacteristic bad night going 0-5 at the plate.
Georgia stormed back in the sixth and top of the seventh. SP Ben Riley wore down in the sixth as U of G sent 8 batters to the plate in the three run inning to take a 4-2 lead. Riley threw 33 pitches in the inning, taking his count above 100 and ending his night on the mound. Brandon Crowe, still trying to find his form after Tommy John surgery, started the seventh but couldn’t contain the Dawgs, who connected for three hits, three runs and a 7-2 lead. Patrick Green came in and put out the flames, getting the third out with runners on first and second.
Wilson opened the bottom of the seventh with his single for the Vols. Sevilla lined to left and Nick Crowe took the cue again, this time taking the first pitch and sending it to the parking lot for a three run shot. UG reliever Will Startup came in after Ruthven tired, walking Czarniecki and Josh Alley on eight pitches. Kyle Norrid brought the boys home on an RBI single that tied the game at 7-up.
Luke Hochevar retired the Bulldogs 1-2-3 in the eighth. Alex Suarez came into pinch-hit; connecting for a single on a night the pinch hitters went 3-4. Georgia committed two errors to aid the Vols as Alley crushed a three run shot of his own as Tennessee raced out to a 12-7 lead after sending ten men to the plate. UT committed its second error in a sloppy ninth that gave Georgia two runs before Rob Fitzgerald retired the side.
Saturday: Vols 16, Dawgs 3
A post-Orange and White football game showdown saw the Vols imitate their gridiron schoolmates with some heavy hitting and lopsided scoring. UT batted through the line-up and deeper in the second (11) and eighth (12) innings. Georgia starter Mickey Westphal was victimized in the opening two innings for six runs as UT took delight, teeing off on first pitches for hits. Matt Woods came in during the second and surrendered two runs of his own as Tennessee took an 8-0 lead. The Dawgs threatened in the third as Vol starter Derek Tharpe struggled on the mound. With one run in, Tharpe hit one batter to load the bases and then walked Armitage to score a base on balls run for Georgia. U of G looked ready to jump back in the game before Tharpe got Jacobs to pop it and fly out to center for the third out. The fight went out of the visitors as the teams traded a run. UT struck big in the eighth for the second straight night. Using hit and run tactics; the Vols muscled in seven more runs led by Czarniecki following up a single with a steal of second and a score on Michael Rivera’s single. In the opening two games, UT had battered Georgia’s pitching, raising the team ERA in SEC games up by almost a full point.
Sunday: Dawgs 8, Vols 6
Georgia struck early only to watch as the Vols tied the game in the seventh, but found some clutch hitting to regain the lead and some quality bullpen work to keep Tennessee at bay and the broom closet safely locked.
Tennessee started Dusty Johnson on the mound and he opened with two strikes on Jasha Balcom, before Balcom sent the 0-2 pitch up the third base line for a standing double. Lee Mitchell followed it up with a two run blast as the Bulldogs raced to a 5-0 lead in the first. Czarniecki reached on a dying quail past first that dropped for a single and proceeded to steal second and third before scoring on a Herrera sacrifice.
Georgia scored one in the top of the second of reliever Luke Hochevar who would throw the last eight, and led 6-1 with the Vols coming up to bat. Tennessee capitalized on walks with the bottom of the line-up and used an error and a passed ball to score Czarniecki and Rivera to close the gap to 6-5. The game settled down into a constant pitch, hit and catch exchange that held both teams scoreless for four and a half innings.
Czarniecki reached on another fly that dropped in for a single and made it to third on an error by the centerfielder. Jimbo Watson stepped in for another turn at pinch hitting and delivered an rbi single that left the bases loaded and a tie game at six. Brent Benefield then set Norwood down on strikes to get out of the jam and stop UT’s play for another big inning. Hochevar gave up a two-run moon ball to Szabo that cleared the top of the scoreboard in the eighth and the Vols couldn’t find an answer and fell 8-6.
Tennessee’s two victories put them in a good position to make a bid for tournament action, a sweep next weekend at Kentucky would move the Vols a lot further along before they return to action against the vicious western division. The SEC West has dominated the East in head to head competition, Alabama at 8-7 has the worst record and is in the West cellar, while at 7-8 UT is tied for the lead in the East.