Orange & White Game 1 Ends in Tie

September 17, 2010 | Baseball

Sept. 17, 2010

By Todd Mounce, Media Relations Graduate Assistant

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee baseball team opened up their fall season with a back-and-forth battle in Game 1 of the Orange and White World Series that ended in a 6-6 tie on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville.

Offensively, senior Khayyan Norfork had two doubles, two stolen bases and an RBI for the Orange squad. Senior Tyler Horne, junior Matt Ramsey, junior Zeth Stone and sophomore Drew Steckenrider all had three hits apiece.

The White squad was led by junior Wes Walker, who had three hits, along with junior Zach Osborne and freshman Blake Berger who both chipped in with two each.

For the game, the two teams combined for eight errors, and of the 12 runs scored, only five of them were earned.

Game 2 of the inter-squad best-of-seven series will be held next Friday, Sept., 24, at Lindsey Nelson Stadium at 5 p.m.

"I saw a lot of good effort tonight," Tennessee head baseball coach Todd Raleigh said. "We've only been practicing one week, but I saw a lot of good things offensively and a lot of good things from our pitchers. I did not see a lot of good things defensively. We've got some guys playing out of position right now and it exposed some things. We've been one of the top defensive teams in the country over the last few years so I wasn't used to seeing us make that many errors.

"Drew Steckenrider had a great game. Tyler Horne had some good at-bats. I thought Steven Gruver looked good, as did a lot of our pitchers. Khayyan Norfork and Josh Liles both had solid games, too. Those were some of the guys that stood out tonight."

The starting pitchers, junior Steven Gruver, for the White, and redshirt freshman Andy Hillis, for the Orange, both shut down the opposition. Gruver pitched 2.2 innings, giving up four hits and striking out four. Hillis pitched 1.2 frames and was relieved by junior T.J. Thornton who kept the game scoreless through two.

The White squad got on the board first, as the team jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third. Liles, a senior, opened the third by reaching on a error by Norfork, the shortstop that put him on second. Liles reached third on a fly ball to center field hit by junior Charley Thurber and eventually scored on a sac fly by junior Davis Morgan. The White team tacked on one more run after a double by junior Chris Pierce, who went to third on a single by Berger, then touched home plate on an RBI single by junior Jerod Peper.

The Orange team evened the score in the top of the fifth, as an error by Pierce allowed Steckenrider to reach first to lead off the inning. Steckenrider then stole second base and was driven home by Stone, who doubled right after. Norfork made it back-to-back doubles to even the score at two as he knocked in Stone. Norfork then swiped third and attempted to score on an Andrew Toles ground ball, but was gunned down by White third baseman Berger.

The White team quickly reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the frame, Pierce reached first on a throwing error by Norfork. A single by Berger advanced Pierce to second and a double steal and throwing error by catcher Ethan Bennett allowed Pierce to cross home plate. The White team extended their lead back to two runs as Walker drove home Berger from second base, to make the score 4-2.

In the top of the sixth, the Orange squad fought back to even the score at four, all with two outs. Ramsey started the rally with a double. Steckenrider followed with a single to score Ramsey. Stone then hit a single to right and Steckenrider scored on a throwing error by the right fielder, Thurber.

The Orange squad grabbed their first lead of the game in the top of the eighth, as sophomore Chris Fritts opened the inning with a double. Fritts nearly was thrown out on the base paths following the two bagger, but a failed pickoff attempt that ended with the ball in center field, allowed him to reach third. Two batters later, Steckenrider delivered a single to put the Orange up 5-4.

Not to be outdone, the White squad put two runs up in the bottom of the inning to regain the lead 6-5. With one out, junior Zach Osborne hit a single, reached second on a walk to Thurber and went to third on an error by Norfork. With two outs and a full count to Pierce, the runners were off and a fielding error by Stone, the second baseman, allowed two runners to reach home.

In the top of the ninth with one out, Horne, of the Orange squad, reached on a single to left field and later scored with the ball never leaving the infield. Horne stole second base and reached third on a passed ball. After Fritts walked, he and Horne completed the double steal to tie the game at 6-6.

                            2010 Tennessee Baseball                               Orange vs. White            Sept. 17, 2010 at Knoxville, Tenn. (Lindsey Nelson Stadium)
Score by Innings                    R  H  E----------------------------------------------Orange..............000 022 011  -  6  14 5White...............002 020 020  -  6  12 3----------------------------------------------
Orange               IP  H  R  ER BB SO-----------------------------------------Andy Hillis.........1.2  3  0   0  1  0T.J. Thornton.......1.1  3  2   0  0  0Carter Watson.......2.0  4  2   1  1  1Davis Morgan........0.2  1  0   0  0  0Drew Steckenrider...2.1  0  2   0  2  1Matt Ramsey.........1.0  1  0   0  1  1
2B - Norfork(2); Stone(1); Ramsey(1); Fritts(1)3B - NoneHR - NoneHBP - StoneRBI - Steckenrider (2); Stone (1); Norfork (1)SB - Norfork(2); Horne(2); Steckenrider(1); Fritts(1)CS - Ramsey(1)
White                 IP  H  R ER BB SO-----------------------------------------Steven Gruver........2.2  4  0  0  0  4Levi Dean............2.1  4  2  1  0  0Rob Catapano.........1.0  3  2  2  0  0Jerod Peper..........1.2  2  1  1  1  2D.J. Leffler.........0.1  0  0  0  0  1Zach Godley..........1.0  1  1  1  1  0
2B - Pierce (1)3B - NoneHR - NoneHBP - WalkerRBI - Morgan (1); Peper (1); Walker (1)SB - Pierce (1); Berger (1)CS - Liles (1); Walker (1)