ARLINGTON, TX – Tennessee baseball showed emotional fire, played with confidence and closed out a victory.
The 19th-ranked Vols (7-3) beat a good Arizona State (8-3) team, 5-3, in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series on Feb. 28.
It was a “walk the walk, talk the talk” type win that first-year coach Josh Elander had been pushing his team toward after an up-and-down start to the season.
UT starter Landon Mack (2-1) was the spearhead of that swagger. He celebrated on the mound and exchanged words with Arizona State players after working out of jams in back-to-back innings.
In the third, Mack struck out two straight batters to strand runners on second and third base. He pumped his fist and appeared to say something that caught the umpire’s ear. The umpire issued a warning, but the sequence ignited the UT dugout.
“That was the first time that I got a warning. We were fired up. It got emotional,” said Mack, a Rutgers transfer who allowed two runs in five innings.
“It’s all authentic. I like to bring the energy. It’s really just a side effect of me having fun. (The win) was big for our morale. We have confidence, it was just about going out and playing freely. That’s what the boys did today.”
Will Tennessee momentum extend to Virginia Tech game?
Tennessee plays Virginia Tech (7-2) on March 1 (11:30 a.m. ET, FloCollege streaming) to wrap up the series. Lefthander Evan Blanco (1-1) will get the start for the Vols.
Virginia Tech lost 10-0 by run rule to Texas A&M in Game 1 of the series, and it plays Mississippi State on Feb. 28.
The Vols have a chance to leave Arlington with a 2-1 record in a premier series. More importantly, they hope to have found their mojo in this bounce-back win over Arizona State following a 12-5 loss to No. 2 UCLA in Game 1 on Feb. 27.
“The dugout probably had the most energy it’s had all year,” freshman lefthander Cam Appenzeller, who picked up the save with two scoreless innings. “This helped us get back on the right track.”
How Chris Newstrom beat his family’s alma mater
A sneak peek of Tennessee’s swagger may have shown up one day earlier.
After the Vols lost to UCLA, second baseman Chris Newstrom said UT would “throw the first punch” offensively against Arizona State. That happened when the Vols scored four runs in the second inning, sparked by Newstrom’s two-run double.
“Maybe Newstrom can see the future,” Elander said.
Newstrom’s family is full of former Arizona State athletes. His father was a star baseball player there. His mother played volleyball there. And his sister was an elite gymnast and ASU cheerleader.
“I’m glad he was wearing our uniform today,” Elander added.
Newstrom is on a hot streak in Arlington. In two games, he is 4-for-8 with a single, double, triple, home run, three RBIs and two runs. He had a .167 batting average this season before that.
Tennessee’s Henry Ford rebounds from 2-error game
Another notable turnaround was at third base. Henry Ford committed two errors against UCLA, but he played lockdown defense in the Arizona State game.
“I feel comfortable there. I feel like the more reps, obviously the better I get,” said Ford, a Virginia transfer who’s playing third base as a new position. “It’s baseball. Stuff happens. You’ve got to stay even keeled, move on to the next pitch and the next game.”
Ford had two hits against Arizona State and was among seven UT batters who recorded at least one hit. He liked his approach from the plate and his improvement on defense.
But Ford was more eager to talk about Mack’s emotional impact on the team.
“It shows how competitive he is and how much he wants to win. That’s contagious,” Ford said. “That’s how everyone on this team is, whether they show it or not. We’re starting to come together.”
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing atknoxnews.com/subscribe.
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball umpire warning sparks Vols vs Arizona State
