Tennessee baseball made the most out of Opening Day, run-ruling Nicholls 10-0 in eight innings in front of a record crowd of 6,997 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Ace Tegan Kuhns turned in the best outing of his young career while Reese Chapman got Tennessee’s offense started.
Here’s how the Vols got it done in the season opener.
Tegan Kuhns Dominant In First Start Of Season
It took Tegan Kuhns just one start to surpass his previous career-high in innings pitched. Kuhns tossed 6.2 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and one walk while tossing a career-high eight strikeouts.
Kuhns was dominant early in his outing, retiring the first eight batters he faced with three strikeouts. The right-handed pitcher was not quite as overpowering after that but was still very effective. Nicholls never had two runners on base at one time against him and only once put a runner in-scoring position.
The biggest moment of pause in his outing came in the fifth inning when he offered a two-out, four-pitch walk. Kuhns then threw three straight balls including a wild pitch as things began to look a bit dicey. He proceeded to pump four straight fastballs past Karson Irvin to get out of the inning before returning the side in order the next inning.
Kuhns fastball sat at 94-96 mph throughout the outing and touched 97 mph at one-point. He did an overall solid job of throwing his off-speed pitches for strikes.
Reese Chapman Gets The Offense Started
Right fielder Reese Chapman is the veteran position player and thee only returning player who started throughout the 2025 season. The senior got things started for Tennessee in what was a strong season opener.
The Vols’ offense was largely quiet for the first few innings but they capitalized on their opportunities. In the first inning, Chapman delivered a two-out RBI double to right field that scored Blaine Brown. The in the third inning, Chapman belted a double off the top of the wall in right-center field to drive home another run with two outs.
Chapman finished the game going two-for-two while reaching two more times on catcher’s interference. Tyler Myatt pinch hit for Chapman in his final at-bat.
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Notes On The Bullpen And The Offense
Kuhns exited to a standing ovation with two outs in the seventh inning and the first Vol out of the bullpen was right-handed pitcher Nic Abraham. It was notable that Elander first turned to Abraham, one of four returning pitchers from last season’s team, first out of the bullpen.
Now, it was a six-run game at the time so Elander very well could be saving one of his more trusted relief pitchers for later in the weekend. But either way, it shows that Abraham is in the circle of trust right now.
Abraham, who turned in a fantastic outing in the final scrimmage of the preseason last Sunday, retired the first batter he faced on just one pitch— enticing a soft pop up to first base. The sophomore right-handed pitcher then retired Nicholls in order in the eighth inning with one strikeout.
It was a slow burn for offensively. Tennessee run-ruled Nicholls by scoring 10 runs in eight innings. The Vols did it without scoring more than two runs in any inning and scoring in seven of the eight innings. Three Vols hit home runs as Henry Ford, Tyler Myatt and Stone Lawless all went deep.
Box Score
Up Next
Tennessee baseball is back in action on Saturday afternoon when they face Nicholls in game two of the weekend series. First pitch is at 1 p.m. ET and the SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
