Tennessee baseball’s Tegan Kuhns is the SEC Pitcher of the Week after turning in the best performance of his career in the Vols’ 5-1 series-opening victory over Texas on Friday night.
Kuhns tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just four hits and one walk while striking out 15 batters. The sophomore’s 15 strikeouts wasn’t just a career-high but tied the most strikeouts by a pitcher in a SEC game this season.
The climax of Kuhns’ outing came in seventh inning when Texas put a pair of runners on base thanks to consecutive two-out singles. Josh Elander came out to the mound for what looked like a pitching change only to allow Kuhns to stay in the game.
Kuhns got out of the jam with his 15th strikeout of the night on his career-high 113th pitch of the game.
“He gets closer and he says, ‘they must be cheering for me because you’re staying in this game,'” Kuhns said of the mound visit.
“I just thought it was a good moment for us to kind of take a little reset, a little deep breath,” Elander added. “And what a performance by T(egan). I mean, he was immaculate tonight.”
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TEGAN MFN KUHNS. 15 KS OVER 7 SHUTOUT 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Wouldn’t let Elander take him out of the game and got the final K to escape on his 113th pitch. Dog. pic.twitter.com/QSAKGWy1wm
— 11Point7 College Baseball (@11point7) May 9, 2026
It’s the second time in three weeks that Kuhns has earned SEC Pitcher of the Week honors. Kuhns also earned the award after tossing eight shutout innings while allowing four total baserunners against Alabama two weeks ago.
Kuhns has posted a 4-4 record, 3.13 ERA and 1.07 WHIP so far in his sophomore season. His numbers are equally impressive in SEC play where he’s posted a 3-3 record, 3.14 ERA and 1.15 WHIP in eight starts and nine total appearances.
