Tennessee vs Austin Peay - Midweek Thread

This week Tennessee will play one game before SEC play starts on Friday as they host Austin Peay tonight. Last night UT was originally scheduled to travel to MTSU but that game was postponed due to weather. The Vols are coming off another series victory this past weekend where they won two out of three games against Cincinnati. The Vols have moved up one spot in CBN's Top 25, now #24 while they've moved into the NCBWA's Top 30 at #30.

The first game of the weekend saw the Vols fall behind early, with Hunter Martin giving up a two out solo home run in the first. The Vols would strike back in the second, with Benito Santiago leading off the inning with a solo shot of his own. Both teams would leave runners on base over the next few innings until Cincinnati scored their second run of the night on an attempted steal in the fifth. With runners on the corners Santiago threw to second on the steal which allowed the Bearcat runner on third to make it home. The Vols would leave the bases loaded in the sixth and two runners on in the ninth as they failed to get another run across and fell 2-1.

Saturday saw the teams play a double header as the threat of snow loomed over the area. Cincinnati again took the early lead. Zach Linginfelter walked the lead off batter who stole second and reached third on an error. He then gave up an RBI ground out which put the Vols down 1-0 early. Tennessee loaded the bases in the bottom of the inning with only one out but a strikeout and fielder's choice would stop the threat. Tennessee would enter the bottom of the eighth still trailing but Jeff Moberg continued his hot start to the year with a solo home run to tie the game up at one. The game stayed that way until the bottom of the ninth, when Jeff Moberg again came to Tennessee's rescue, driving in a run on a bases loaded two-out single.

The final game Saturday would finally see Tennessee jump ahead first, with Santiago scoring on an Pete Derkay attempted steal. Three more Vols would score in the fourth, with Justin Ammons hitting a two run homer and Max Bartlett an RBI single. The lead would become 5-0 in the fifth as Jay Charleston scored on a wild pitch. Two Bearcats would score in the sixth to cut into the lead but the Vols responded with a Charleston sacrifice fly to score Moberg in the 7th to give the final 6-2 score line.

Tennessee leads the all-time series with Austin Peay 19-4. Serrano owns a 2-1 record against the Governors in his Tennessee coaching career.

Austin Peay is coming off an OVC home series this past weekend where they swept Jacksonville State. The series featured a fourteen inning game on Sunday where APSU erased a five run deficit entering the bottom of the seventh inning to force it to extra innings. A solo walk off home run in the fourteenth would finally break the tie and give Peay the win. The Governors were picked to finish third in the preseason OVC Coaches poll.

This weekend the Vols will be in Knoxville to open SEC play against South Carolina. They will follow that up with a midweek game next week versus Marshall before travelling to Starkville to take on Mississippi State.

#24 Tennessee Volunteers (11-2) vs Austin Peay Governors (9-6) (3-0 OVC)

Date: Wednesday March 15, 2017
First Pitch: 3 p.m. ET at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Knoxville, TN
Live Audio: UTSports
Live Stats: GameTracker
Probable Starting Pitchers: UT RHP Connor Darling (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs APSU LHP Brett Newberg (0-0, 6.75 ERA)