Tennessee baseball hosted Northern Kentucky, who it beat in the opening NCAA Tournament game of its national championship run a season ago, on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Norse gave Tennessee everything they wanted as the Vols used key relievers in an 7-5 victory.
Here’s how it went down.
Brayden Krenzel Returns To The Mound
Tennessee freshman Brayden Krenzel made his return to the mound for the first time since April 13 against Ole Miss. Krenzel has been out due to illness and the Vols have felt his absence in the bullpen the last two weekends.
It was a shaky but scoreless first inning for Krenzel. The right hander walked the Northern Kentucky leadoff man on just five pitches then Dalton Bargo was unable to make a play on a slow chopper to third giving the Norse two-on with no-one out.
But Krenzel responded well, striking out the next two batters he faced before Reese Chapman helped him get out of the inning. Marcus Harrison lined a single to right field and Chapman lasered a near perfect throw home to cut down the lead runner at the plate.
Krenzel finished the game allowing zero runs on one hit and one walk while striking out a pair. We’ll see what Tony Vitello says about Krenzel’s potential role over the weekend against Auburn.
Michael Sharman Effective In Long Relief
Northern Kentucky took the lead with a four-run second Inning after Ryan Combs and Brandon Arvidson combined to walk three batters, hit another and allowed a RBI single to put the Vols in an early 4-2 hole.
Tony Vitello then turned to left hander Michael Sharman, who allowed the one batter he faced at LSU to rope a RBI double, to start the third inning and stuck with him through a strong long relief outing as Tennessee worked to get the lead back.
Sharman totaled 4.1 innings pitched allowing just one run on three hits and two walks while striking out six. He got into a bit of trouble in the fourth inning when a runner reached third following an error, wild pitch and stolen base but the lefty was able to work out of the trouble. Sharman worked out of a similar jam in the sixth inning.
Northern Kentucky did its only damage off of Sharman in the seventh inning putting runners on second and third with no one out after a single, walk and double steal. Sharman got a soft RBI grounder for out number one to end his day. Austin Breedlove and Dylan Loy picked him up, retiring the final two batters to strand the tying run on third. Nate Snead also pitched the ninth inning after Loy pitched a scoreless eighth.
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Stone Lawless Big Day At The Plate
Tennessee catcher Stone Lawless didn’t get any action behind the plate over the weekend against LSU but responded with a great performance at the plate against Northern Kentucky.
Lawless twice went yard against the Norse, first with a 416 foot towering blast that cleared the porches in left field to cut the deficit to 4-3 in the third inning. Then in the sixth inning, Lawless gave Tennessee a bit of insurance with a solo homer into the left field porches.
The redshirt freshman’s second homer was just as towering but not nearly as far, landing in the first deck of porches in left field. Northern Kentucky intentionally walked Lawless his final time up, ending his night two-for-three at the plate.
Tennessee Mixes Things Up At The Top And In Middle Infield
Tennessee made a pair of changes with its middle infield on Tuesday night. Dean Curley started at second base after his defensive issues on the left side of the infield persisted on Friday night in Baton Rouge. Gavin Kilen slid over and played shortstop, where he started last season at Louisville and worked frequently in the fall.
Both looked natural at the spots including Curley who made a fantastic diving stop and throw ranging towards second base in the fifth inning.
WOW! Web gem for Dean!@SportsCenter
📺 https://t.co/EIMTktsf4z (SECN+)#GBO // #BeatNKU // #SCTop10 pic.twitter.com/fhLUeHcsRU
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) April 29, 2025
That wasn’t the only change with the duo, however. The two flip flopped in the lineup with Kilen hitting in the leadoff spot and Curley hitting in the two-hole. It was just one midweek game so not too much to make out of it but both had strong nights at the plate.
Kilen went two-of-five with two doubles while Curley went two-for-four with a RBI double and a walk. We’ll see if Vitello rolls with it this weekend.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee baseball is back in action this weekend as they host Auburn in a three-game series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch for the three-game series is at 6:30 p.m. ET on Friday. The SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
