Garrett Wright doubled to left field to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning and Manny Marin drove him in with a single up the middle as Tennessee claimed a 4-3 walk-off win over Wright State before a Friday night crowd of 6,479 inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Marin squared to bunt before pulling back and delivering the winner.
“Usually in that situation, you’ve got to move the guy to third base,” Tennessee first-year coach Josh Elander said afterward in a news conference, “but if they’re going to leave the middle of the field open and your guy is under control and doesn’t try and take too big of a swing, there is so much surface area that all they have to do is make contact with it.
“We got the look, and Manny made contact with it exactly how he’s coached to do it. It was a great job of him not trying to do too much.”
The No. 19 Volunteers improved to 11-3 with their fifth straight triumph, while Wright State dropped to 4-7. The Raiders of the Horizon League were seeking to improve to 2-2 against Southeastern Conference teams, having lost two of three at Georgia to open the season.