Vols Shutout In SEC Tournament Opener

The Tennessee Volunteers' offense was stifled in Hoover, and they will now await their NCAA Tournament assignment.

Author:
Jonathan Lidskin
Publish date:
May 23, 2023 6:14 PM EDT

In this story:

After getting hit hard by the Vols back in late March, Texas A&M's Troy Wansing looked like a completely different pitcher in first round of the SEC Tournament. The lefty cruised while pitching through a light drizzle en route to a 3-0 win. For the Vols, a loss in the first round means their 2023 SEC Tournament campaign was short lived. Tennessee will now wait to hear their name called on Monday for their spot in the NCAA Tournament.

There's really not much more to the loss other than the fact that the Vols weren't winning a game when they didn't get their first base runner until the sixth inning. Wansing retired the first 16 hitters of the game and only surrendered his first base runner on a line drive single by Christian Scott. Wansing ended up throwing 8 innings of shutout ball with the single to Scott being the only baserunner allowed on the day. He struck out seven batters and had the Tennessee left-handed hitters (including Maui Ahuna and Blake Burke) fooled all day.

On the Tennessee side, the pitching staff was very good. Seth Halvorsen got the start and while he wasn't spectacular, he pitched well and even Tony Vitello said in a mid-game interview that he did his job. Halvorsen gave up two runs across four innings and then Camden Sewell gave up one run in three innings of relief. Outside of a solo shot by stud freshman Jace LaViolette, Sewell was near perfect. AJ Russell also threw two shutout innings to keep the Vols in the game late. Coming into the SEC tournamnet, the Vols were projected as a two seed in the NCAA Tournament and even with the loss that definitely shouldn't change. All the loss did for Tennessee next week is guarantee that they wouldn't be a regional host. One positive out of this: There's no doubt about how well-rested Tennessee will be headed into regionals.

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