NASHVILLE, Tenn.--The Samford baseball team traveled to Nashville to play the University of Tennessee in the final fall baseball game for both teams in front of an enormous crowd.
 
Tennessee jumped out on top with three runs in the bottom of the first inning.
 
Samford answered in the top of the second with two singles by John Anderson and Garrett Howe to set up a long three-run homer by Aaron Walton to tie it at 3-3.
 
Tennessee responded with a two-run homer of its own in the third for a 5-3 lead. Samford pulled to within one on a big fly by Josh Rodriguez to left field. Jackson Harris reached on a hit by pitch and Lucas Steele laced a double to the gap in front of a two-run triple by Anderson to the wall. Howe followed with a ground out for a 7-5 lead.
 
Carson Lore came into a bases loaded, two out situation with a 7-6 lead in the bottom of the eighth inning and escaped with a harmless pop up to short. The Bulldogs tacked on insurance runs in the ninth inning. Parker McDonald started things with a single and Rodriguez followed with a hit by pitch. Harris singled in a run and Steele delivered a line drive triple to the wall. Anderson finished off the scoring with a single and a 10-6 lead.
 
"So many good things happened in the critical part of the game with quality at bats and big hits, really throughout the day, but Lore came into a mess and made some really big pitches with the game on the line," Samford head coach Tony David said. "We expect him to have a big role for us and that was a critical phase of the day."
 
Lore would pitch the ninth inning to close off that part of the day at 10-6 before both teams made whole sale changes for the back half of the scrimmage.
 
The final eight innings featured predominantly new lineups for each. Tennessee used an early opposite field grand slam to jump out. The Bulldogs got a run scoring single by Colin Ahearn and a single by Angelo Prieto to account for the runs in a lower scoring back half.
 
Head Coach Tony David Comments:
 
"Just a perfect weather day in an incredible venue for baseball. I have tremendous respect for Coach Vitello and what they have quickly built over there as a true powerhouse. Our guys competed well today and swung the bats against some really good arms. The 12 hits was good but so many hard hit outs and deep in count outs."
 
"Walton's blast early in the day kind of jump started us offensively. We really drove the ball with a lot of extra base hits and drove the ball out of a really big park. Overall, I am really happy with our guys on the mound. We threw a bunch of guys and thought we really competed well as a whole. Lore got us out of the jam in the eighth and then we came in and tacked on three big runs. Several guys had good days on the mound aside from Lore, but three left-handed pitchers really stood out for us. Steck, Riggs and Whit all had outstanding outings for us from the left side which we were missing a year ago. This was Whitney's first action against an opponent in a couple years. He is working his way back and has really been electric at time in scrimmages and was again today."
 
"This was a great way to finish our fall. The environment was perfect in front of a huge, noisy crowd and I am proud of the way our guys handled themselves and played. We move onto the next phase of the year with our post fall activity as we get ready to crank up for real in January."
 
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