Tennessee baseball rolled past Lipscomb in its second fall exhibition, winning 21-8 in a 10-inning game Oct. 16 at Covenant Health Park in Knoxville.
The Vols, who beat Troy 8-6 in 12 innings on Oct. 11 in Nashville, jumped out to a lead early against Lipscomb and continued to pile on, finishing with 20 hits.
“You look at 21 runs and 20 hits — that’s a heck of a night,” coach Josh Elander said. “We call that a platinum double-double.”
Here are four takeaways from the exhibition.
Chris Ramirez set the tone from the leadoff spot
Shortstop Chris Ramirez went 1-for-4 in the first exhibition, but his hit was a triple. He picked up right where he left off against Lipscomb by reaching base in all four of his at-bats, going 3-for-5 and finishing a homer shy of the cycle. The only two times he didn’t get hits were on fielder’s choices.
When Ramirez committed to Tennessee as a transfer from Cal Baptist, he was penciled in as the likely starter at shortstop to replace outgoing transfer Manny Marin. Ramirez had a well-executed double-play turn after making an error against Troy, fielding a grounder and taking it to second base himself before flipping to first.
A well-balanced offensive performance
Lipscomb isn’t exactly the kind of high-powered opponent that the Vols will have to go through in SEC play. They took care of business offensively, with every starter reaching base by the third inning, and all but two drove in runs.
Trent Grindlinger and Andrew Duncan both had four RBIs to lead the team. Duncan hit a grand slam, one of three Tennessee players to go deep.
“Just a guy that looks comfortable,” Elander said of Duncan. “I like the maturity that he brings to the program, the consistency every day and the strength.”
It was a welcome performance after a slow start in their previous exhibition. Transfers, who struggled against Troy, combined for nine RBIs against Lipscomb.
Parker Detmers started, flashed strikeout ability
Parker Detmers, a right-handed pitcher from Louisville, is a dark horse candidate for the third spot in Tennessee’s weekend rotation. He didn’t pitch last season for the Cardinals as he recovered from Tommy John surgery but was back to full speed this summer.
He started against Lipscomb and allowed two runs in two innings. Five of his six outs were strikeouts.
"I thought it was solid,” Elander said. “I think it was similar to those previous ones, where if he does a little bit better job of controlling the running game behind him, then they're not going to score any runs.”
Sean Dunlap, Cole Koeninger with strong showings again
Tennessee’s freshmen continue to impress this fall, particularly Sean Dunlap and Cole Koeninger.
Dunlap started in right field and went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer to right-center field in the third inning. He also threw a runner out trying to steal second after he switched to catcher in the late innings.
Koeninger pitched 2⅓ innings and was charged with two earned runs, although both were scored after he left the game. He struck out four but walked four. At the plate, he went 3-for-3 with an RBI.
“Once they do get to campus, we hit the ground running full speed,” Elander said of his freshman class. “ . . . But right now, we just want them to play free and figure out what they can and can't do."
Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Takeaways from Tennessee baseball's fall exhibition win over Lipscomb