Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless leaves game vs Vanderbilt after hit by pitch injury
Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless left the series finale vs. Vanderbilt after an injury getting hit in the head by a pitch.
Tennessee baseball catcher Stone Lawless left the series final of Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee after getting hit in the head by a pitch. Lawless left the March 29 contest at Hawkins Field after Alex Kranzler hit him with a 3-1 pitch in the side of the helmet.
Lawless was on the ground for a few minutes while being tended to by the Vols' training staff, then eventually got up and was helped off the field. He was replaced by pinch-runner Hunter High. Lawless was later helped out of the stadium.
The score was tied, 4-4, in the top of the third inning at the time. However, the Lawless hit-by-pitch loaded the bases with nobody out for Tennessee (18-9, 3-5 SEC). Kranzler was pulled from the game after that, with Jacob Faulkner replacing him for Vanderbilt (16-12, 4-4).
The Commodores won the first two games of the series with a 3-2 victory in the opener and a 6-5 win in game 2. Both wins were via walk-off, with the first one coming via a Logan Johnstone single in the 10th inning and the latter a Mack Whitcomb squeeze bunt in the 16th inning. Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean.