After back-to-back singles at the top of the seventh inning, it seemed as if starting pitcher Tegan Kuhns’ day was nearing its end
Instead, Kuhns struck out the batter after a meeting at the mound with head coach Josh Elander. The Vols used Kuhns’ big-time outing to claim a 5-1 Friday night win over the No. 4 Texas Longhorns.
The meeting at the mound was perhaps the most dramatic moment of the night, though.
“Just wanted to give him a breather,” Elander said. “I was giving (Brandon Arvidson) a little bit more time to get moving, but I just went out there and I said, ‘Hey, you’re not giving me the ball, man. You got one more out to get.’ I just thought it was a good moment for us to kind of take a little reset, a little deep breath and what a performance by T. I mean, he was immaculate tonight.”
The Vols (33-17, 12-13 SEC) were going to need a massive day on the mound from Kuhns to keep their postseason hopes alive, but a win against the Longhorns (36-11, 15-9 SEC) is never easy.
Despite the tough test, Kuhns finished the night with perhaps the best performance of his career, a seven-inning shutout, tossing 15 strikeouts, walking one, and allowing just four hits while no runners crossed home.
So when it came down to two outs and two runners on in the top of the seventh, Elander had all the confidence in his guy.
“He starts walking up, and I’m like, ‘Oh crap,’ because I just gave up two singles,” Kuhns said. “But he gets closer, and he goes, they must be cheering for me, because you’re staying in this game.”
Despite allowing a deep flyball to foul territory, Kuhns bunkered down, showing off his offspeed during his 15th and final punchout of the evening.
Entering the game, the Longhorns had three hitters hitting over .300 at the top of the lineup, and even the bottom of the order had some pop with Temo Becerra and Ashton Larson.
Despite the tough battle, Kuhns was well up to the test. After leading off the game by walking Aiden Robbins, Kuhns sat down the next eight Longhorns batters, with five of them being sat down on strikes.
“Just executing when I needed to,” Kuhns said. “Also, landing the curveball down on the bottom of the zone.”
It’s a career high for Kuhns in both pitches thrown in a game with 113, as well as strikeouts with 15. Before the game, his career high was 10 strikeouts.
He seemed to only improve as the game progressed; seven of Kuhn’s final nine batters were down on strikes, including his final batter of the game.
To make Kuhns’ outing even more impressive, he did it all while facing off against a fellow top arm in the conference, Dylan Volantis.
“He’s a hard guy to prepare for just because it’s so different. He’s so high-handed. It’s a seven-foot release height,” Elander said. “He’s throwing curveballs basically out of the sky. He’s got a cutter, a changeup, his fastball up to 94, but he can even put it in his pocket at times where he’s going to go cutter and kind of mix and match.”
Volantis was tagged early by the offense with three runs, but settled down for his final three innings. He went five while allowing three earned runs, two walks, and striking out just two batters.
“Can’t take it for granted,” Elander said. “I’m looking here, looking at Dylan Volantis, what he brings to the table. I mean, that’s two major leaguers going at it head-to-head. So again, that’s SEC, but what an environment on Friday night. Our fans were amazing, great weather and fireworks. It was just a really cool day for our guys, but they need to enjoy it and then turn the page and be ready to go tomorrow.”
