Inside Tennessee baseball's nine-run seventh inning to crush Florida

Tennessee baseball went into the seventh inning with a 1-0 lead over Florida on Saturday.

Then the No. 1 Vols ended the game that same inning, walking it off against the Gators with a nine-run explosion. Tennessee clinched the first SEC series of the season over the No. 7 Gators with a 10-0 run-rule win in seven innings at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The nine runs for Tennessee (19-0) was sparked by Dean Curley's base-clearing double. But to Vols coach Tony Vitello, it all started with freshman outfielder Jay Abernathy's at-bat.

Before Curley battled for nine pitches in his plate appearance, Abernathy went seven pitches deep against Florida's Jackson Barberi before drawing a walk to load the bases.

"A lot of times before something happens, something happened," Vitello said. "And I think our guys took good swings against a tough pitcher. I mean, it's a good arm, and you saw how good the breaking ball is. Our guys took good swings, and then Jay lays off some pitches. Now the guys are on base, maybe he's trying to be a little more careful in the zone. And Jay had some unbelievable takes.

"So there was a build up to that at-bat, and then (Curley's) at-bat itself was incredible."

Curley hit four foul balls during his at-bat, the last two with a full count. When Curley put the ball in play, it sailed down the left field line deep into the outfield, giving all three base runners ample time to get home.

"Dean's type of guy that will adjust as the game's going on," Vitello said. "He'll think through the game. He'll compete in all situations. And it's what makes him a good baseball player, because you can't have success all the time, but you want it to happen a high percentage of the time ... He's got the right baseball brain."

Hunter Ensley singled through the left side to bring Curley home, then Andrew Fischer singled to center to bring Ensley and Gavin Kilen home. Dalton Bargo hit a double to get on base and then Reese Chapman ended the game with a three-run home run to right field.

Vitello said if the Vols take the right approach, their offense can only be held down for so long over a three-game series.

The Vols only had seven hits Friday, which was their third-lowest mark of the season. They only had four hits going into the seventh inning Saturday.

"Breakthrough is kind of the word, because I can't – the box score doesn't really make sense, if you look at it," Vitello said. "But at the same time, if I was the average Joe fan, it was a really fun inning to watch to end the day. So it'll be important for our guys to celebrate that mentally, but physically, rest up and be ready to go for what is obviously Sunday. I don't need to say it's important, because it's Sunday."

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Inside Tennessee baseball's nine-run seventh inning to beat Florida

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