After a rough opening conference series against Georgia on the road last weekend, the Vols returned home for a meeting against Missouri.
The Vols yielded the lead in the third inning and never had a chance to look back as Mizzou claimed the series opener 8-4 over the No. 22 Vols. Friday starter Teghan Kuhns was sent out for his sixth start of the season and hit the ground running with two straight strikeouts against the Tigers.
“It just wasn’t crisp,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said. “I thought the pace was really the difference tonight. He just wasn’t, even between pitches and then getting to the plate. That’s why we went to (Brady) Frederick right away.”
Pierre Seals was the first baserunner of the evening for the Tigers (16-6, 1-3 SEC) after a single to center field against Kuhns in the top of the first. Despite stealing second, Seals was stranded as Kuhns ended the inning with his third strikeout.
Despite two singles from Henry Ford and Blake Grimmer in the bottom of the first, the Vols (15-7, 1-3 SEC) were shut down by Javyn Pimental as both teams put up a zero in the first inning. Both starting pitchers continued to settle in through the next frame; the Tigers’ starter, Pimental, shut down the Vols through two innings, while Kuhns kept the Tigers at bay.
“Especially Friday night in this league, as good as the arms are, you may have one chance to get the starter,” Elander said. “We had fortunes to have two and we didn’t get it done either time.”
Tyler Macon, who has been one of the Tigers’ most reliable bats on the season, led off the top of the third inning with a single. After Macon stole second base, Jase Woita brought him home with a scorched double off the right-center wall, giving the Tigers an early 1-0 lead.
Seals kept the ball rolling at the top of the third inning. After the Woita double, he was brought home with a two-run home run.
Kuhns’ rough inning ended with his fifth strikeout of the night through three innings, not before allowing the first three runs of the night and giving the Tigers an early lead.
The Vols put some baserunners on in the bottom of the third, with the offense loading the bases with two outs after a Grimmer walk. Reese Chapman took a high pitch from Pimental, which the umpire called strike three, ending the third inning with no runs to show for the Vols.
After Kuhns’ third straight inning of allowing the leadoff runner to reach, his day was officially over after just three innings of work. His final line marked three innings, allowing three earned runs while walking one and striking out five. He also allowed six hits.
Brady Frederick entered the game for Kuhns at the top of the fourth. Frederick helped out Kuhns, ending the inning without allowing the leadoff double to score, moving things to the bottom of the fourth.
Stone Lawless broke the zero for the Vols with a solo shot to deep left field, cutting the deficit to two runs.
After a quick two outs from Frederick in the top of the fifth, the Tigers had four straight batters reach base safely while scoring two more runs in the process, pushing the score to 5-1 Tigers.
The Vols continued to have not much of an answer offensively, as JD Dohrmann relieved Pimental after he posted four solid innings of one-run baseball.
Brandon Arvidson relieved Frederick at the top of the sixth inning after his rough fifth inning of work.
It took a while, but the Vols’ bats finally came to life in the bottom of the sixth. The Vols brought in two runs to cut the lead to just 5-3 Tigers after a Jay Abernathy fielder’s choice and a pinch-hit Tyler Myatt single.
As the offense began to chip away, the Tigers continued to make it difficult for the Vols to mount a comeback. Keegan Knutson sent a three-run home run into the left-field bleachers to give the Tigers an 8-3 lead in the top of the seventh.
Blaine Brown connected with a pitch to lead off the bottom of the seventh, his seventh home run of the season, and moved the Tigers’ lead back to 8-4. Even with the Brown home run, the Vols continued to knock on the door with no answer. A one-out double from Lawless in the eighth inning had nothing to show for it as the Vols left the runner stranded at third.
Arvidon bunkered down after struggling in the seventh inning, sitting down the next six Missouri batters, giving the Vols at least one more chance to mount a ninth-inning comeback. The Vols didn’t go down easy in the ninth, but there wasn’t much to show for it. After three walks loaded the bases, Manny Marin struck out, stranding all three runners, bringing the game total of runners left on base to 11.
“Just slowing the heart rate down a bit,” Lawless said. “We don’t got to do more to have more happen, just play the game.”
The Vols go for the equalizer on Saturday with Landon Mack on the mound.
