KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 5/12 Tennessee dropped a rain-soaked series opener, 6-1, to No. 5/10 Auburn in a game that began on Friday night but was played mostly on Saturday afternoon after play was suspended in the middle of the first inning.

Ike Irish hit a two-run homer in the top of the first inning on Friday night to give the Tigers a 2-0 lead before the call was made by the umpires to halt play because of rain.

Auburn (32-14, 12-10 SEC) extended its lead after play resumed on Saturday at 11:35 a.m., scoring runs in the third and sixth innings off of reliever Tegan Kuhns, who otherwise put together an impressive outing to keep the Vols within striking distance.

Kuhns pitched 4.2 innings and finished with a career-high six strikeouts wile scattering five hits.

UT (36-10, 13-9 SEC) was able to finally break through off Tigers’ starter Samuel Dutton with back-to-back doubles in the seventh by Dalton Bargo and Levi Clark to cut the deficit to three, but Auburn answered immediately with a leadoff homer in the top of the eighth to regain its four-run advantage.

Bargo was the lone Vol to finish the game with multiple hits, going 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Dutton earned the win to improve to 6-2 on the year after allowing just one run on four hits while striking out eight over 6.2 innings. Irish led the Tigers at the plate with a pair of hits and three RBIs.

Up Next

Tennessee will look to even the series in game two on Saturday afternoon.