There are good teams. Then there are bad teams. Then there’s Tennessee, which can’t decide what it is.
The Vols were run over by Kentucky for the second consecutive day in Lexington, losing 12-2 in eight innings. Tennessee (30-17, 10-13) dropped the first two games in a series for the second time in three weeks, while the Wildcats (29-15, 11-12) stormed to their first series win since their opening series of conference play, when they swept Alabama.
Having switched up its weekend rotation, Tennessee turned to lefty Evan Blanco to turn the momentum in the series, while Kentucky rolled with righty Jaxon Jelkin.
The offense again started slowly for Tennessee, going nine up, nine down over the first three innings against Jelkin, who struck out six Vol batters over his first three innings of work. In the bottom of the third, the Wildcats would connect against Blanco with some long and loud contact.
Caeden Cloud opened the scoring with a solo homer to right field. After a strikeout and a hit batter, Tyler Bell clubbed a two-run shot deep beyond the left field wall to make it a 3-0 lead for the Wildcats.
After another 1-2-3 inning for the Tennessee offense, Blanco surrendered his third home run of the day as Hudson Brown would touch ‘em all for his third home run all year long, pushing the lead to 4-0 for Kentucky.
The fifth inning would finally see a response from the Vols. A leadoff double from Trent Grindlinger was followed by an RBI double into the right-center field gap from Reese Chapman to put the Vols on the board. However, Chapman would be stranded in a scoring position to end the threat without further damage.
An inning later, again, Tennessee drew closer. Blaine Brown hammered his 13th home run of the season to lead off the frame, and Garrett Wright followed with a bunt for a hit and a steal. Again, however, Tennessee would be unable to capitalize and draw closer, as it went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position following the Chapman RBI double.
Needing a shutdown inning, Blanco surrendered a pair of hits to open the bottom of the sixth, and he would give way to Brayden Krenzel. The righty would prove ineffective, walking his first batter and hitting his second on a full count to bring home a sixth Kentucky run. Head coach Josh Elander would quickly pull him for Ethan Baiotto, who gave up two more runs on a pair of fielder’s choice ground balls to put the Wildcats’ lead to 7-2.
In the seventh, the Wildcats would scratch across four more runs. Ethan Hindle struck the fourth Kentucky homer of the afternoon, taking Baiotto deep down the left field line. After loading the bases, Cloud delivered another run-producing hit, driving home two more on a double against Will Haas. The 11th run scored on a wild pitch to put the hosts ahead by a comfortable nine-run margin.
In the eighth, Kentucky ended the game as Bell doubled to lead off and Luke Lawrence singled against Brady Frederick to bring Bell home to end the game for a run-rule victory.
The Vols will turn to Landon Mack in the finale to avoid a sweep, while the Wildcats will send Connor Mattison to the hill.
