Max Ferguson Hits 3-Run Walk-Off Homer in the Bottom of the Ninth to beat the #1 Hogs 8-7
Recap: Game 2 of the series between the No. 4 ranked Volunteers and the No. 1 Razorbacks saw the Vols get off to another fast start in an electric Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Liam Spence ground-rule doubled to kick off the bottom of the first inning, and then he along with Max Ferguson made it home off of a hit from Jake Rucker and then a sac fly by Evan Russell, respectively. The Vols went scoreless for the next two innings, but Connor Pavolony, returning from his injury suffered against Vanderbilt, fired off a single in the bottom of the fourth inning to get First Baseman Luc Lipcius home. The Vols went on a dry spell after the Razorbacks made a pitcher change from Payton Pallette to Caleb Bolden late in the fourth inning, and it was not until the bottom of the 7th and 8th innings that the Vols got back on the board with single-run homers from Max Ferguson and Jordan Beck, respectively. Facing a two run deficit heading into the bottom of the ninth, Second Baseman Max Ferguson pulled off the unthinkable, crushing a three-run walk-off homer to right field give the Vols the 8-7 victory. Lindsey Nelson erupted, and Ferguson displayed his excitement by throwing his helmet in the air once he rounded third base.
Other than the magnificent walk-off from Ferguson, perhaps the best part of the Vols performance in Game 2 was Senior pitcher Will Heflin's dominance through the first five innings. It was not until the sixth inning that the Hogs managed to get a hit off of Heflin, but once the Razorbacks got going there was no slowing down.
Brayden Webb caught one off of Will Heflin in the top of the sixth, sending it over the fence and bringing Cullen Smith home in the process. Arkansas managed to ultimately tie up the contest with a Christian Franklin homer in the sixth, and the Razorbacks followed it up in the 7th inning with 4 hits and 2 runs in an inning that saw the Vols make two pitcher changes. The Hogs managed to gain a comfortable lead of 7-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth, as the top of the 8th inning saw Casey Opitz score an unearned run, and the top of the 9th inning saw Christian Franklin hit a ground-rule double to get Jacob Nesbit home. The Razorbacks ultimately could not hold off the determined Vols in the bottom of the 9th, and now all focus will be turned towards Game 3 of the Series on Sunday.
In the Game 2 Postgame Zoom Conference, Vol Baseball Head Coach Tony Vitello had high praise for Max Ferguson following his game winning bomb.
"The guy's a winner. He's certainly, as of about five weeks ago, back to being himself. It was really about him just doing whatever he thought he needed to do to help us win the game. We left it in the hands of our athlete, and he's an athlete but also a superb kid. And that's why he's a winner. [Ferguson] was really solid behind the plates, and it looked like he hadn't skipped a beat... He's been salivating for a long time to play and he's been extremely cooperative with the staff, for me in particular kind of waiting for his name to be in there, and he made his mark on the game. He made his mark on that ball too because I don't know what part of the bat he hit it with. But, you know, the bottom line is, he gets the job done."
Vitello also touched on Heflin's stellar performance that caused the Hogs to get off to an extremely slow start.
"There's a deal where [Heflin] is progressing. As a starting pitcher, we've asked him to so many dang things since we've been on campus. A lot of different roles and I think now, most of these kids, they want to show up to the park and know exactly what is expected. Unfortunately this isn't the big leagues, each game is enormous. [Heflin] has earned it. He's earned the right to be out there with the game on the line later in the game, towards 100 pitches. There's that progress. When the moment is big or the opponent's great, I think what he does is... he maintains his composure and stays true to who he is. Whereas, a lot of kids at a young age, and it's hard to fault them, try and do too much or get too mad or something like that so a lot of that comes with maturity and consistency, and that is something we're always preaching about."
Finally, Vitello asserts that he is proud of how his team rose to the occasion against the No. 1 team in the country.
"The last two nights are staple SEC games. I mean call them inches if you want that separate the two teams are just a small margin, you know obviously one run would be another way to describe it, but that's what these kids have signed up for. And that's why there's more fans in our league than any other league because it's kind of how it works, and it is probably how it'll go tomorrow too. I don't know that our kids feel like they've had anything to prove but maybe with the way media works or matchups and things like that are our guys are on the hunt for special things at the end of each year, and you could list them all, however you see fit. So to be in that category, you got to be able to play with the teams in our league that are always able to do that. And you know so far, we've played teams like Florida, Arkansas, Vanderbilt, and the differences just really have been, like I said, the inches. And typically when we don't end up getting the inches in our favor it is because we just didn't play fundamental baseball or control our emotions or things like that. It wasn't because of talent, or that we were completely overmatched or anything like that. And when this team stable, it's character or a little extra grit to it. And you might as well roll with what's working for you."
On Sunday, the Vols will look to capitalize on their comeback win against the Hogs in Game 2 with a win in Game 3 to win the series. Game 3 of the Series between the SEC heavyweights will be played at 1 p.m. ET at Lindsey Nelson Stadium and will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus.
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