Tennessee baseball’s poor offensive performance from Saturday continued on to Sunday as the Vols’ dropped their series finale against Kentucky 8-2 on Easter Sunday.
The series rubber match loss marked Tennessee’s second straight home series loss. It’s the first time in Tony Vitello’s tenure that the Vols have lost consecutive home SEC series. Here’s how it went down in Tennessee’s series finale loss against Kentucky.
Things Got Away From Tegan Kuhns Quickly
Freshman pitcher Tegan Kuhns outing began excellently with the right hander retiring the side in order, striking out a batter and getting through the inning on just 13 pitches.
The second inning began just as smoothly with Kuhns sitting down the first two batters on just three pitches. Then things quickly unraveled.
Carson Hansen singles to right field, stole second and things quickly unraveled. Kuhns walked two straight batters to load the bases, both on borderline 3-2 pitches. He again fell behind 3-1 against Ryan Schwartz and the nine-hole hitter capitalized on the advantageous spot, driving in a run with a single to left field that ended Kuhns’ day.
Kuhns retired the first five batters he faced on just 16 pitches. He retired none of the next four batters, throwing 19 pitches in the process.
Brandon Arvidson relieved Kuhns and retired the first batter he faced but a second run scored first on a wild pitch.
Some More Sloppy Defense
The second inning wild pitch, which Cannon Peebles originally blocked but then kicked allowing the run to score, was the first of a few defensive mistakes for Tennessee.
The worst and most significant mistake came in the fourth inning when Kentucky had runners on first and second with one-out. Kentucky put on the double steal and Peebles threw to second instead of to third. Peebles had the runner dead to rights but his throw was innaccurate taking shortstop Manny Marin towards right field.
Still, Marin should have been able to catch the throw and make the tag for the inning’s second out. But the freshman infielder was unable to make the catch, allowing the ball to roll into center field and the runner stealing third to score.
Tennessee committed one more error the rest of the game finishing with two. It was a bad but not horrific defensive game. But with its offense struggling, the defensive mistakes were magnified.
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Hunter Ensley Provides Only Life Against Ben Cleaver
Kentucky starter Ben Cleaver dominated Tennessee for much of the outing, allowing just four baserunners in his first five innings pitched. One of those baserunners came on a swinging bunt that beat the shift and another was on an infield hit that easily could have been ruled an error.
All that to say, Tennessee’s offense showed very little life against Cleaver entering the sixth inning. Dean Curley worked a leadoff walk and then Hunter Ensley showed the first true sign of life, hitting a 372-foot home run into the left field porches.
But Cleaver got back into a groove after that, promptly retiring the next five batters he faced to end his outing. The left hander finished his day allowing just two runs on five hits while striking out seven in seven innings pitched.
Kentucky Opens Up The Game Late
Tennessee was able to stay in the game thanks to Ensley’s two-run homer but more importantly five really strong innings of relief from Brandon Arvidson and Nate Snead.
Arvidson allowed only the previously mentioned unearned run in the fourth inning and Snead allowed just one hit in his first 3.1 innings pitched.
But things got away from Snead in the eighth inning when he allowed four hits against the first five batters he faced. The first two hits came in pitcher friendly counts, the first was a 1-2 double from Hudson Brown and then a 0-2 single from Kyuss Gargett.
Tanner Franklin relieved Snead and could do little to end the run. Kentucky scored three in the eighth inning to make it a four-run game before scoring two more in the ninth to end the game.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee baseball is back at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Tuesday night for a midweek bout with Lipscomb. First pitch is at 6 p.m. ET and the SEC Network+ is streaming the game. The Vols head to LSU next weekend
