The Tennessee Volunteers waltzed into town Tuesday night bringing only disappointment to the Bucs and their fans.
Tension was high when Buc catcher Scott Rose took his place in the batter’s box in the seventh inning, with his team down 4-3 and the bases loaded.
Rose came through for the Buccaneers and brought in two runs with a line drive.
The score was now 7-5.
After a long conference on the mound, Erik Filsinger took over in an attempt to end the Bucs’ late game rally.
Filsinger did exactly what he planned by ending the inning with a strike out.
That was as close as it would get for the Bucs.
The score remained 7-5, leaving the Bucs at 11-20 so far in this season.
Coach Skole said, “I’m proud of the way they competed. They could’ve thrown the towel in, but they didn’t quit.”
Before the first inning was under way, the Vols showed the Bucs that they meant business.
Tennessee’s leadoff man sent a long ball over the left field fence on the fourth pitch.
Without giving the Bucs time to think, Tennessee’s Jeff Christensen sent heads spinning with a shot to center bringing in two runs.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the inning wasn’t over.
Dennis Gomez brought in another run to make the score 3-0 with only one out.
After a short pep talk on the mound, pitcher Reid Casey (2-6) recovered to strike out the next batter and end the inning with a pop fly.
The bottom of the first wasn’t nearly as spectacular for the Buccaneers. With only one hit, the game seemed to be going downhill.
The second inning gave the Vols two more runs with only one swing.
Despite its painful beginning, the following innings went much smoother for the Bucs who swung their bats with determination from beginning to end. “We had a lot of well hit balls,” Head Coach Tony Skole said.
Bucs pitcher Reid Casey tamed the Vols until the fifth inning.
Another homerun from Tennessee in the top of the fifth left the score 6-0.
Tim Turner relived Casey in the sixth inning.
Turner did his job with only one hit from Tennessee and a strike out to retire the side.
“Tim came in and did a great job,” said Skole. “We were asking him to be a superman.”
The Bucs couldn’t score until the seventh inning.
Tennessee’s new pitcher, Beau Massey, hit the leadoff batter, Chad Boruff.
Ryan McKinney stepped up to the plate only to be hit by a pitch. McKinney was sent right back to the box by the second base umpire.
The Vols watched in amazement as McKinney drove in two runs with a long homerun high above left field.
“McKinney’s homerun broke the seal and got the game going,” said Skole.
The Bucs pulled together and rallied through the eighth.
Nathan Copeland led the eighth with a double to the wall.
Boruff drove in Copeland with a line drive base hit up the middle.
Tennessee’s second baseman missed a ground ball hit by Ryan Hyder and helped the Bucs load the bases.
The Bucs host a three game series this Saturday and Sunday against Davidson at 2 and 1 p.m.

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