Harris helps get Vols back on track, 5-1

Maybe they were down, but they’re not out.

That is the state of Tennessee’s baseball team in the eyes of senior pitcher Ty’Relle Harris.

Harris (2-2) allowed no runs on four hits through five innings and the Vols beat Western Carolina 5-1 Tuesday night before 1,067 fans at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

UT (10-12) was swept in a three-game SEC series at Florida over the weekend and had lost seven of nine before Tuesday.

“The ironic thing about it is last year’s (NCAA) championship winner, Fresno State, had the same record as us going into today,” Harris said. “We’re not out of it. Coach (Todd Raleigh) sparked us from the get-go at the beginning of the game.”

Western Carolina (15-6) is Raleigh’s alma mater, and he was its head coach for eight seasons before coming to UT in 2007. Raleigh brought former Western assistant Bradley LeCroy with him to UT, while former Vols assistant Alan Beck left UT for Western last year.

“I know Raleigh doesn’t want to lose to Western, have those guys ragging him, he and LeCroy,” Harris said.

Harris pitched out of trouble in the second and third innings. He gave up a leadoff double to Brent Greer and a bloop single by J.C. Lyons in the second, and retired the next three (two strikeouts).

With one out in the third, Nick Liles reached on Harris’s error, and Ross Heffley doubled off the wall in right-center field. Harris ended the inning with a groundout and fly ball.

Harris gave up a single to Dylan de Graaf in the fourth and retired the side in order in the fifth before being relieved by freshman Matt Ramsey. Harris, who struck out eight and walked none, threw 80 pitches.

“He was cruising but I had to use him for this weekend (against Georgia),” Raleigh said.

UT took a 1-0 lead in the first. Josh Liles led off with a single and scored on Cody Hawn’s fielder’s choice.

The Vols added a run in the fourth on a controversial call. Cody Brown led off with a single and advanced to third on an pickoff error by Catamounts starter Corey Martin and a wild pitch. P.J. Polk hit a grounder to third baseman Heffley, whose throw to first was high. Matt Johns leaped to make the catch, and when he tagged Polk, the ball flew out of his glove, and Brown scored.

Polk was at first called out, and after a heated objection by Raleigh and a meeting of umpires, Polk was called safe and Brown’s run counted.

The Vols took a 5-0 lead in the fifth on Blake Forsythe’s three-run homer, his 11th of the season.

Ramsey, former Farragut star, gave up a leadoff homer to Stephen Notaro in the sixth and a single to Greer, and struck out the next three. Ramsey pitched the seventh, and Danny Wiltz finished.

“It was a good win,” Raleigh said. “We pitched well, and Ty’Relle really set the tone.”