Two trips to Omaha, two historically good aces stymie the Volunteers
Sometimes, you just have to tip your hat. And that's all the Vols could do last night against LSU's Paul Skenes for the better part of 8 innings. The 6'6", 247-pound righty is one of those rare generational players you see come through every 20 years or so. With his 4-seam fastball topping out around […]
Sometimes, you just have to tip your hat.
And that's all the Vols could do last night against LSU's Paul Skenes for the better part of 8 innings. The 6'6", 247-pound righty is one of those rare generational players you see come through every 20 years or so. With his 4-seam fastball topping out around 102, his slider diving down and away, his 2-seamer cutting at 99-100, and his change up dropping off around 88, it's hard to imagine a more daunting task as a college baseball hitter than face that repertoire. He's a major league-ready pitcher right now, and he might not be at the back end of the rotation.
For Tennessee, at least through the first seven innings last night, just making contact and fouling him off seemed like cause for mild optimism. And when contact in play came, it was often off the end of the bat for a soft fly out. No runner advanced past first base for the first seven innings.
And then, finally, with Skenes north of 100 pitches, the Vols broke through in the 8th. Christian Scott lined a double to right center, and Maui Ahuna singled him home, which chased Skenes. The next batter, Hunter Ensley, pounded a hanging breaking ball from Gavin Guidry off the top of the wall and over for a 2-run home run, and the Vols had life at 5-3. Unfortunately, Christian Moore struck out looking with one on to end the 8th, and that's the last chance the Vols would get.
Incredibly, it was an even better offensive performance – and chance to win – than they had in their last trip to Omaha in 2021. Tennessee fell to Virginia 6-0 in their opening game, and the storyline was much of the same: a historically good starting pitcher shut down the Vols.
Except this one turned out to be historically good on the MLB level. And, ironically, he reached MLB history the same weekend that the Vols were trying to solve Skenes in Omaha.
Virginia's Andrew Abbott tossed six shutout innings against Tennessee in 2021, allowing just 5 hits while striking out 10 Volunteers. Abbott would end up getting drafted by the Cincinnati Reds in the second round of the 2021 MLB draft. After working up through the Reds' minor league system, he got the call up to Cincinnati this month. He set the modern-day major league baseball record on Friday in a 2-1 win over the Houston Astros with scoreless outings of at least 5 innings in his first 3 career games.
Two trips to Omaha. Two insanely good – way, way better than one could reasonably expect – opposing starting pitchers. Two early losses. Two big hills to climb.
They say great pitching will top great hitting. And the Vols are living proof over the last two trips to Omaha that the mantra still rings true.
Featured image via Dylan Widger-USA TODAY Sports
