LEXINGTON, Ky. — No. 24 Tennessee needed all the offense it could muster in the series finale against Kentucky to get the win in a high-scoring 10-9 affair at Kentucky Proud Park.
The Volunteers got a great start on the mound from Landon Mack, who went six innings of six hit, one run baseball. Mack punched out six batters to increase his season total to 77 and improved to 4-4 on the year with the win. Despite a strong outing on the mound by Mack, the bullpen struggled, allowing eight of the Wildcats’ nine runs as they threatened late before UT was able to hang on in the ninth.
Offensively, the Big Orange were led by Levi Clark, who went 3-for-3 with two homers and five runs batted in. Reese Chapman had a solid day as well, going 2-for-3 with a solo blast and an RBI double.
For the third straight day, UK opened the scoring, scratching across a run in the bottom of the first to take and early 1-0 lead.
The Vols (31-17, 11-13 SEC) bats answered immediately, however, in the top of the second. Chapman lifted a 2-0 pitch over the fence in left to tie the game at one apiece. A batter later, Clark left the yard with a solo blast of his own, which traveled 392 feet out to right center. For Chapman and Clark, it marked their seventh and eighth homers of the year, respectively.
Mack came back with a clean inning in the bottom half of the second, setting down the side in order and striking out a pair to get the Tennessee bats back in the box. The Vols kept the pressure on Wildcats’ starter Connor Mattison, getting runners on the corners with no outs in the third after back-to-back singles from Blaine Brown and Garrett Wright. Brown scampered home on a wild pitch to increase the Tennessee lead to 3-1.
UT plated two more runs to add it its lead in the fourth. Brown drove in his first run of the day with a bases loaded single to left field, his second hit of the day. Wright followed with an RBI fielder’s choice to bring in Manny Marin and make it a 5-1 ball game.
The Big Orange continued to add to its lead with two more runs in the seventh, the first coming on an RBI double by Chapman to drive in Henry Ford. Chapman advanced to third on a wild pitch, and then promptly raced home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Clark.
The Wildcats (29-16, 11-13 SEC) rallied with four runs in the seventh to cut their deifcit to two. Back to back RBI singles from Jayce Tharnish and Tyler Bell off reliever Cam Appenzeller cut the deficit to four. before an RBI groundout and another RBI single made it a 7-5 game. Bo Rhudy came in to spell Appenzeller and ended the inning with a strikeout to limit any more damage.
Kentucky’s offense cut into the deficit once again an inning later, with a Caedon Cloud RBI double. Rhudy was once again able to limit the damage for and get the Vols out of the inning with a lead.
UT got some much needed insurance runs in the top of the ninth, as Clark clubbed his second home run of the contest, this one of the three-run variety, to put the Vols ahead 10-6 heading into the bottom of the ninth.
The Wildcats once again rallied to make things interesting with three runs in the home half of the ninth thanks to a solo home run from Bell and a two-run shot by Braxton Van Cleave. Kentucky got the tying run in scoring position with one out, but Brandon Arvidson came on in relief to get the final two outs and secure the victory while picking up his second save of the season.
UP NEXT: Tennessee is back at home on Tuesday, as it hosts Presbyterian at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m., with the game being streamed on SEC Network+ and the ESPN App.
