Tennessee And Auburn Get Chippy In The 9th Inning, Setting Up Intense Sunday SEC Finale

Knoxville- The SEC had themselves a heck of a game in Knoxville on Saturday night, with Tennessee and Auburn battling it out on the baseball field. If the second game of the series was any indication of what was to come on Sunday, prepare yourself for a game full of fireworks, after Auburn won 8-6 in the second game.

After trading offensive punches for eight innings and the Vols taking a 5-4 lead into the top of the 9th, the Tigers struck gold. Down to their final out, Auburn added one run and then Bobby Peirce hit a bomb to left field, giving the Tigers the 8-5 lead.

But after his swing, Peirce setoff a tense situation on the field, leading to both teams exchanging pleasantries on the field and in the dugout. Peirce looked to have tossed his bat into the fence of Tennessee’s dugout, leading Vols head coach Tony Vitello to pick it up and throw it back to the Auburn dugout.

If you’re wondering what led to 9th inning moment between Tennessee and Auburn.

Auburn’s Bobby Peirce sent his bat a little to close for Vols liking. It’s baseball, gotta just deal with excitement, both wayspic.twitter.com/nYF19egZlz

— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) May 1, 2022

After the play was over and Peirce touched home plate, both teams started jawing, leading to the umpires trying to calm the situation down quickly. Vols assistant coach Frank Anderson was already coming onto the field and he quickly got Tennessee players to calm down, while Auburn players continued jawing from the dugout.

Things popped off in the 9th inning between Tennessee and Auburn after the Tigers jacked a homer.

Pretty intense in Knoxville pic.twitter.com/6AE1YlcT2t

— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) May 1, 2022

Auburn ended up winning the game after Tennessee’s comeback in the bottom 9th fell two runs short, setting up the rubber match on Sunday afternoon. Following the game, Tony Vitello was asked about the situation and gave a fantastic response to the question.

“Well the bat ended up in our dugout, if it was a true dugout it would’ve went in our dugout, instead it was resting on the net. Someone’s gotta get it, so I grabbed it and threw it over there and a lot of extra stuff happened after that..It’s two SEC teams battling for a win.”

Tennessee pitcher Camden Sewell said the team is only thinking about one thing.

“Obviously losing is never fun, so I think all our mindsets are getting to 1 o’clock tomorrow.”

Sunday should bring some fun in College Baseball in Knoxville.