Notes and Quotes: Tennessee Game 2

ALSO SEE: Box score, Photo Gallery, Game Story

Notes

--After starting on the bench Friday night, DC Arendas was back starting at second base. It is his 23rd start at second base.

--Alex Destino missed his fourth straight game after running into a wall during the Vanderbilt series. Holbrook said Destino’s putting balls “in the road in BP.” Destino is day-to-day and Holbrook expects him back Tuesday at the latest saying, “he’s pretty close to being ready.”

--Gene Cone extended his hitting streak to 18 games after singling in the second inning. Other hitting streaks that were extended Saturday: Dom Thompson-Williams (4).

--Thompson-Williams stole his team-leading 12th stolen base of the year.

--Tennessee had base runners in seven of the first eight innings including six innings straight to start the game.

--The announced attendance was 8,242. It was officially a sellout. It’s the third announced sellout of the season.

--Braden Webb ties Clarke Schmidt for a team-leading seventh win of the season. Adam Hill has a chance for his sixth tomorrow.

--John Jones went 0-for-5 Saturday, bringing his average down to .339. He’s 1-for-10 this weekend with a strikeout. Holbrook said the sophomore is playing with some shoulder tenderness.

--Reed Scott earned his first save of the season after coming in to relieve Webb. Scott pitched 1.2 scoreless innings and only gave up two hits.

--South Carolina is off to its best start under Holbrook at 27-5 and its best SEC start since beginning league play 10-2 in 2011, the same year they won a national title.

Quotes

Mooney on the rundown in the sixth: “I did it on my own. Coach Holbrook might have had a heart attack, I don’t know. It’s very unconventional play, not may teams practice it, and it paid off.”

Mooney on the offensive output: “Everyone in there is capable of doing anything whether it’s bunting, getting guys over, some of us can steal. That’s what we do.”

Webb on the defense, giving up seven hits: “I put pitches over the plate and they were going to hit them or they’re not; that’s the game of baseball. I was really blessed today that my teammates backed me up even though I gave up a lot of hits…I don’t always need to be the guy who goes out there and needs to do everything himself.”

Holbrook on Mooney’s rundown: “He got the ball in the dirt but he made the mistake of stopping halfway. He kinda said ‘Oh, crap. I screwed up.’ But they didn’t want to throw the ball to second in that situation because we had a runner on third. So he didn’t commit to running to second base to draw the throw to second. He kind of stopped in the middle. But, he hustled his butt off to make it work. And luckily for Marcus we had a guy who could run at third.”

Holbrook on TJ Hopkins: ““TJ’s given us a big boost of energy all weekend long. If we don’t have TJ playing, we might have lost those games. He’s played terrific baseball for us.”

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