Tennessee baseball’s series rubber match struggles continued Saturday afternoon when they dropped their regular-season finale at Arkansas 10-6.
Here’s how the series finale went down as the Vols dropped their fifth straight series and six in their last seven weeks.
Arkansas Opens Game Open With Debacle Third Inning
Tennessee took a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the third inning with starter Tegan Kuhns throwing the ball well to that point. Things fell apart for Tennessee slowly.
Tegan Kuhns thought he erased a leadoff single with a pickoff but a faux balk call moved the runner to second instead. The missed call felt supremely important as a slow grounder was rolling to Dean Curley at second base. It became even more important when the ball rolled through Curley’s legs and the run scored.
Kuhns offered up back-to-back walks to end load the bases and end his day. All three runs he left on base came home to score when Ryder Helfrick took the fourth pitch Austin Breedlove threw into the Tennessee bullpen for a grand slam.
Arkansas scored five runs in the third inning on just two hits to take and open up its lead. Kuhns was a missed call and a routine play away from have two outs with no-one on. Instead he ended his day giving up five runs, four of them earned in just two innings.
Missed Scoring Opportunities
In the final game of the series with Tennessee low on quality pitching, the Vols were going to need a big offensive performances to take the series rubber match.
Tennessee continued the strong weekend at the plate but struggled to bring the runs in once they got them on base. The Vols started the game with three straight singles to take the lead before striking out to strand a pair on base.
Tennessee stranded two more runners in-scoring position in the second inning and two more on base in the third inning. The Vols left seven combined batters on base through the first four innings on their way to stranding nine runners over the course of the game. They hit two-for-nine with runners in-scoring position.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Returning To Texas For Early Season Event In 2026
Andrew Fischer Has A Big Day
While there were good reasons for frustration with an offense that struggled to bring runners on base home, star slugger Andrew Fischer had another big day.
Fischer went three-for-four at the plate with a home run, double, walk and three RBIs. The power hitting first baseman drove home three of Tennessee’s four runs including a RBI double in the second inning and a two-run homer in the sixth inning.
While Fischer didn’t drive home a run with a single to right field in the first inning, Kilen did advance to third on the play and scored an at-bat later on a Hunter Ensley infield single.
Walks Plague Tennessee’s Pitching Staff
The two second inning walks following the poor balk call and fielding error doomed Kuhns’ day. He wasn’t the only Tennessee pitcher that struggled with walks.
As a staff, Tennessee’s pitchers combined to walk a season-high nine batters in game three of the weekend series. It was a consistent issue with Kuhns offering three walks, Dylan Loy offering two walks and Brayden Krenzel offering four walks. Brandon Arvidson, who has had walk issues this season, didn’t offer a single walk in 2.1 innings pitched.
The Vols’ combined to walk 18 batters over the course of the series marking a season-high. Some of that is a credit to Arkansas’ powerful and patient offense. But it’s still an issue that will make pitching coach Frank Anderson pull his hair out.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee’s regular season comes to a close with a 41-15 (16-14 SEC) record. The Vols now turn their attention to the SEC Tournament in Hoover. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider to see Tennessee’s draw in the conference tournament.
