SEC play has arrived for Tennessee baseball. The No. 19 Vols got their conference slate started with a trip to Athens to begin a series with No. 8 Georgia on Friday. The result was a gritty 7-4 win over the Bulldogs.
Here’s what happened as UT advances to 14-4 (1-0 SEC) on the season and earns a quality win to get in the driver’s seat of the series.
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Henry Ford Opens Up the Scoring
Tennessee struck first. In the top of the third, Jay Abernathy opened the inning with a full-count single to right. Then, Garrett Wright ripped a double to right-center to put runners on second and third with no outs.
After a Blaine Brown strikeout, Henry Ford came up to the plate. The Virginia transfer dropped a single into center field to score both runners. The two-RBI swing put the Vols on top and gave the pitching a bit of a cushion to work with early.
However, Ford attempted to steal second and was thrown out. Blake Grimmer walked and Reese Chapman got aboard via catcher’s interference, but instead of the bases being loaded with one out, it was two on with two outs, and the inning was spoiled by a Stone Lawless strikeout.
Georgia Fired Back in the Fifth
The 2-0 score held until the bottom of the fifth. Tegan Kuhns was cruising until that point and even got two quick outs to open the frame. However, Ryan Black lifted a solo shot center to get the Bulldogs on the board.
Rylan Lujo followed it up with a single, then stole second. This allowed a Brennan Hudson single to score Lujo from second and tie the game at two runs apiece. The next batter, Tre Phelps, smacked a double to left-center to pull Kuhns out of the game.
In Brady Frederick’s first batter faced in relief, he allowed a single that scored the pair of runners and gave Georgia a 4-2 advantage. Brandon Arvidson had to come on afterward to get out of the inning.
Kuhns finished his first SEC start of the year with a line of 4.2 innings pitched, six hits, four earned runs and six strikeouts with no free passes allowed. The early portion of his outing was terrific, though, and is a good sign going forward if he can find that gear consistently.
Bizarre Sequence Leads to Tennessee Tying it
In the ensuing top of the sixth, Blake Grimmer singled and Reese Chapman walked to put two on base with no outs. Georgia made a call to the bullpen to lift its starter to deal with the jam.
During Stone Lawless’ at-bat, he popped a ball into the UT dugout. Instead of the Tennessee players on the railing backing up, they stood their ground and tanked the pop-up, not allowing Georgia to make an easy play on it. As Bulldogs’ head coach Wes Johnson protested to the umpires, the Vols’ dugout erupted with energy over what transpired.
Vols dugout loses their mind standing ground in the dugout 🤣🤣🤣 pic.twitter.com/XNyeRPitgg
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) March 13, 2026
Lawless would strike out before Tyler Myatt grounded out on the first pitch he saw. With two outs, Manny Marin smoked a double to right field to score both runners. This tied the game up at four with the final stretch looming and both teams in their bullpens.
Solo Shots, Brandon Arvidson Clinch the Win
After breaking the 0-0 tie to start the game, Henry Ford provided another crucial blow with his bat. With two outs in the top of the seventh, he pummeled a ball to left field for a solo shot. This gave the Vols a 5-4 advantage heading into the seventh-inning stretch.
In the eighth, Stone Lawless and Manny Marin added to the scoreboard. Both hammered solo shots of their own to push the lead all the way up to 7-4.
While the offense did its part, Brandon Arvidson shoved on the mound. After getting out of the fifth inning, he pitched the remainder of the game and completely shut down the Georgia bats. En route to earning the win, he pitched 4.1 innings while allowing two hits, no runs and striking out four batters.
Box Score
Up Next
Game two of the series between Tennessee and Georgia is set for 5 p.m. ET on Saturday evening. The game will air on SEC Network with Landon Mack on the mound for the Vols.
Sunday’s game three is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET. That game will air on SECN+ with Evan Blanco getting the ball for Tennessee.
Then, UT hosts Eastern Kentucky on Tuesday before Missouri comes to Knoxville for the first home conference series of the Josh Elander Era.
