A minor league ballpark did not present any further challenges for Tennessee baseball on Thursday night.
Playing at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, home of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Triple-A affiliate, the Vols took the opening game of the series against Oklahoma 9-7.
Tegan Kuhns’ start was not as sharp as his monumental outing against Texas, but it still got the job done. Kuhns worked a high pitch count to give five innings of five-run baseball. Oklahoma (31-19, 13-15 SEC) tacked 12 hits on the ace while walking twice, while Kuhns only fanned five batters. He struck out the fifth of the night on the 108th and final pitch of his outing.
The Sooners knocked around the baseball for 16 hits compared to seven from the Vols (36-18, 14-14).
The punch back
Tennessee had to deliver a punch back in the final two games of the Texas series. It had to do the same in game one against Oklahoma.
The Sooners jumped on the board first with their first batter of the night, as Jason Walk utilized the 20 mph winds to carry a leadoff blast out of the park. That sparked a two-run first, which grew to 3-0 after the second inning.
Four runs to take the lead in the third was Tennessee’s response this time around.
A Garrett Wright leadoff hit, which turned into a three-bagger with an error, put a Vol on third base without an out. Two pitches later, Blake Grimmer brought him home on an RBI double. A Henry Ford walk and a Trent Grindlinger full-count strikeout allowed Reese Chapman to unload an RBI double of his own. Levi Clark walked on four pitches to load the bases with one out.
Manny Marin provided the equalizer with a sacrifice fly to right. Blaine Brown sweetened the inning with a single up the middle to give Tennessee the lead — plating four runs in the frame while chasing Oklahoma starter Cameron Johnson out of the game.
Oklahoma answered with runs in the bottom of the third and fourth innings to retake the lead.
Then, Levi Clark blitzed a two-run moonshot in the top of the fifth to give Tennessee the lead right back, 6-5.
Little League Park? No, Minor League
Lindsey Nelson Stadium gets its critiques for being a hitter-friendly park. Taking the road to Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark, though, the Vols had a chance to prove the power surge in their bats.
Clark and Henry Ford stood up to the challenge.
Both of Tennessee’s sluggers recorded no-doubt home runs on Thursday. Clark’s go-ahead blast in the fifth inning traveled 406 feet at a 32.8-degree launch angle. Ford’s insurance longball exited the park at 109 mph, landing 415 feet beyond home plate.
Walking down the line
Tennessee benefited from an Oklahoma pitching staff that struggled to find the strike zone.
The Vols drew nine walks at the plate en route to the win. They tallied at least one walk in six of nine innings, including three innings of multiple walks.
Ford and Blaine Brown each drew a pair of walks in the game, while Brown also recorded a hit-by-pitch. Tennessee reached base a total of 18 times behind nine walks, seven hits and two hit batsmen.
Oklahoma managed to find the strike zone on just 123 of 205 total pitches (60%).
