Tennessee baseball’s tale of 2026 has been receiving a strong starter performance, watching that starter get chased out late in the game, and then turning the ball over to a putrid bullpen that cannot hold on.
Friday’s series opener was quite the opposite for the Vols against Ole Miss — with the bullpen giving a fighting chance. Instead, Landon Mack’s six-run start was too much to overcome in a 7-4 loss.
Sophomore Nic Abraham, alongside freshmen Chandler Day and Will Haas, provided 3.2 innings of one-hit, one-run (unearned) baseball.
“It was really good,” head coach Josh Elander said. “I mean, I’ve continued to challenge those guys. We want to be able to kind of mix and match and have some options there.”
Mack’s struggles were not limited to a single inning. He tossed the ball 23 times in a hitless, scoreless first frame — but that just set the tone of how well the Rebels were seeing his pitches by keeping counts alive.
Three solo home runs and runs in four consecutive innings later, Mack’s leash shortened, and Elander emerged for a pitching change with one out in the sixth. Abraham was the first to get the call.
Abraham — whose last outing was a five-run outburst in 0.2 innings against LSU — dealt a strong 1.2 innings in relief. He allowed two baserunners, a fielding error and a single that scored the unearned run. Abraham picked up five outs on 20 pitches.
“I thought Abraham did a really good job against the middle of — the meat of the order,” Elander said.
Day emerged next, a freshman left-hander who had appeared just four times in nonconference play. He has already matched that number in conference play with Friday’s outing against the Rebels.
He struck out the side and finished the eighth inning, pumping his fists as he exited the mound. It’s a sign of his confidence rising.
“It obviously raises it a bunch,” Day said. “It’s a good team over there. And the more experience I get, the more confidence I gain, I think will help me out in the long run.”
When the ninth began, and the Vols still trailed by three, Elander elected for another young arm in a tight game as he looked in Haas’ direction. The freshman lefty, who received Tommy John surgery before arriving on campus in the fall, made his SEC debut Friday.
He did it emphatically, retiring the side on eight pitches, including an inning-ending strikeout.
“He seems to continue to get better and better as he gets further away from being cleared,” Elander said. “And that is definitely a big positive from the end of tonight, is having those two lefties, how they threw the ball.”
It’s an overall positive for Elander’s bullpen bunch to receive forward-looking contributions. The relief arms have had their share of struggles this season, but a strong weekend against Mississippi State, where Cam Appenzeller was the only guy to give up any runs, boosts confidence.
A series opener where three young arms don’t allow a single earned run — in a game where the starter got torched for six — is more fuel to add to a potential turnaround, even in a loss.
“We’re still trying to keep the same thing going,” Day said. “As long as everyone goes out there and does their job, then it’ll be OK.”
