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Tennessee's Kentrail Davis, right, is safe at home plate past Oregon State's Ryan Ortiz on Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Just when Tennessee's baseball team seemed poised for another inspired victory, its bullpen came unraveled Saturday afternoon.
No. 25 Oregon State (1-1) scored 10 runs in the last two innings and beat the Vols 14-4 before 1,900 fans at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The end was quite a contrast to Friday night when the Vols scored twice in the ninth for a 5-4 victory.
Sophomore left-hander Bryan Morgado started for the Vols (1-1) Saturday and was relieved with a 3-1 lead with one out and two runners on base in the sixth inning.
From there, it was a struggle for the Vols' bullpen.
"We've got a better bullpen than that," UT coach Todd Raleigh said. "We've got to find out who can do some things. You can practice it all you want but you don't really learn all the way till you get out here in these kinds of situations."
Today's final game of the three-game series starts at noon.
Morgado, hitting the low 90s with his fastball, gave up five hits and three earned runs before being relieved by Matt Ramsey, a freshman from Farragut.
"I felt confident going in," Morgado said. "I really prepared myself to come out and throw strikes and give it my best. It's unfortunate I got cut short today. It's the first game out, you don't want to go out and throw 120 pitches."
Morgado threw 89 pitches before leaving. He overcame a cramp in his calf in the fifth and returned for the sixth.
"(Morgado) got his pitch count up and we felt we didn't want to stretch anybody too much early," Raleigh said.
Oregon State's Rob Folsom greeted Ramsey with a sharp grounder up the middle that was stopped by diving second baseman Cody Brown, who threw to first for the out.
Stefen Romero followed with a two-run double to right, tying the game at 3-all. Ramsey ended the inning with a pop fly.
UT didn't score in the sixth, and Ramsey gave up a leadoff double to Carter Bell in the seventh. Freshman Steven Gruver relieved Ramsey and gave up a sacrifice bunt, hit a batter, and Adalberto Santos' sacrifice fly gave Oregon State a 4-3 lead. Senior Ryne Simpson relieved Gruver, walked his first batter, and ended the inning with a popup.
The Vols' Kentrail Davis tied the game at 4-all with a one-out homer in the seventh.
"I felt we were in really good shape," Raleigh said. "We came out and walked the leadoff guy (in the eighth) and it got to 6-4, then it just kind of went from there."
Senior Joey Rosas gave up the two runs in the eighth, and freshman Will Locante finished the inning.
Oregon State sent 14 to the plate and scored eight runs in the ninth against junior Steve Crnkovich and redshirt freshman Dylan Hochevar.
"Some of these guys have been pitching real well and they get here today and couldn't perform when they needed to perform," Raleigh said. "As a coach, you learn that too, but you've got to put them in that situation. I'm not trying to lose the game but you've got to find out who can do what."
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Comments » 8
easttnvol21 writes:
Same old meltdown in the bullpen by the same faces. Instead of giving a couple kids a chance who were called up last year who had good experience (and weren't invited back) looks like we're going down the same path with the same bunch who made a habit of walks, hit batters and coughing up leads. What fun!
loudonloudmouth writes:
Raleigh can hide behind him not trying to lose the game but his decisions to swithch pitchers, send runners and play people out of position are and will catch up with him. I hope for the teams sake that he gets Hawn off the field and into a DH job, Brown back to third, Grisham back in the middle and give some of the other pitchers we watched in the fall into the game. This team, if coached right can go a long way and I hope he figures out who can and can not play at this level soon. Go Vols
798orange writes:
They win in their last at bat to open the season. I said it before and to repeat, if all you can do is throw out mindless insults just to get attention then you need to be banned from commenting.
VOLsince68 writes:
The REAL Vol fans will be there, even when the times are hard. You have to be patient. If you haven't noticed, we're playing a lot of freshman in ALL the sports that are struggling right now.
The baseball Vols will be better in the long run with the freshman getting this much playing time early.
GO VOLS!!!!
jclowers writes:
It's just one game guys. It's laughable to throw a coach under the bus after one season and two games. This team is exciting with the talent they have and what they brought in. Not national title contenders but it should be some very good nights at the park for UT this year. Also they split a pair with the team that won back to back national titles in 06 and 07. I think so far, so good.
utvolz#637682 writes:
Are you medically brain dead or just an idiot? Get lost you loser!
UT_Thread_Head writes:
i'm trying to see hope for this years team in what Raleigh said in the last couple of sentences of the last paragraph: "As a coach, you learn that too, but you've got to put them in that situation. I'm not trying to lose the game but you've got to find out who can do what."
i can live with that, but i hope that goes for all the positions and not just the pitching.
coach! the one kid has no foot work and can't run! another infielder doesn't have the range for the position, and i don't buy into the theory that a "well rounded" player can play a position better than someone that has played it their entire life, not at this level of play!
after watching both games i hope that he (Raleigh) saw the obvious..if it continues, what am i to believe? can i then say that you are trying to lose the game?
loudonloudmouth writes:
So I am not the only person in the stands that see the obvious. Some things just glare out at you. It seems that most of last years season went about like this one started, people out of position, no range and experienced players sitting on the bench. Why coach wait until much of your season is gone before you do what most of us already know it will take to win. Freshmen are good, but face it, it ain't high school.
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