Bragga goes to Knoxville and ends the Vols 23 game winning streak with a 4 hitter

Bragga is back where he can recruit. He will probably be okay there. But he was a fish out of water at Rice.

This is baseball. Guys are on D1 rosters because they showed some talent in HS or JC. Things don't always go well. Sometimes one bad inning can really inflate a pitcher's ERA, especially if he does not get a lot of innings.

A couple of notes from the box score. Tech had 6 hits. They scored one run in the 5th on 3 consecutive hits and 2 runs in the 6th after a single followed by a homer. Therefore, only one hit over the remaining 7 innings.

The second note is that a reliever for Tech pitched 5.2 inning with 0 H, 2 BB, and 9 K. Obviously an impressive performance. This lowered his season ERA to 6.93. He had 19 innings in 7 appearances and 6 starts. He had 15 K prior to last night. What was i just reading about Rice's hitting last night against "sub-par and lousy" pitching? Is the #1 team in the country that bad for letting a pitcher with a 9.00 ERA prior to yesterday dominating them?

Baseball is a game of timing. Tech strung their hits together at the right times and had a pitcher perform to perhaps the max of his ability. Things like that happen in baseball. Sometimes you make a great pitch but it still gets hit out of the ballpark. To me, this is part of what makes baseball so appealing.

I tried to watch a little, because this was the first Division I baseball game I can recall where the teams agreed to use wood bats. It was played at the AA Smokies' park outside Knoxville. With both teams swinging for the fences, I guess it didn't work out so well for Tennessee. Maybe they'll claim a continuing metal-bat winning streak, though.

For context, against Vanderbilt, Tennessee had a first-inning home run taken off the board because the bat approval sticker had fallen off before the plate appearance, and the Vanderbilt catcher noticed it. Then Tim Corbin was interviewed and made reference to buzz around the SEC about Tennessee using illegal bats.

So it seemed like the wood-bat game was supposed to troll all the suspicious bat folks out there, because that's how Tony Vitello rolls. Fantastic entertainment and gamesmanship, but again, maybe the L makes it come across a little differently.

Tennessee is a fascinating and entertaining team, as long as you're used to all the strikeouts. Feisty dugout energy, power hitting and pitching (they've got a JC guy who has hit 104mph multiple times this year). True No. 1 all season to me, but obviously the most important games are coming up. Their starter last night, Tidwell, is a weekend guy coming back from injury, so they may be getting stronger.