CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – The Vols’ trip to North Carolina was a short one.
Tennessee baseball lost 5-4 to VCU, going 0-2 in the Chapel Hill regional to end the season. The Vols (38-22) head home winless in regional play for the first time in program history and before the Super Regional round for the first time since 2019, when they lost to North Carolina in the Chapel Hill regional final.
“I think the game has told us we need to make some adjustments, and we’ll make those in the offseason,” head coach Josh Elander said. “Excited to continue to get better, but congrats to VCU.”
Tegan Kuhns took the bump to start for the Vols, while VCU rolled with Elias Holbert to open the proceedings. Each starter traded zeroes in the opening frames until Tennessee broke through in the third inning. With two outs and Trent Grindlinger on first base, senior Reese Chapman shot an opposite-field homer to left to put Tennessee up 2-0.
However, VCU responded with a leadoff rocket the next half inning from Trent Adelman to cut their deficit in half. They would take the lead in the fourth with a pair of run-producing outs from Quinn Maher and Alec Warden to make it a 3-2 game.
Brady Frederick came on in relief in the fifth inning, but was ineffective. A strike away from putting up a zero, he instead gave up a two-run double to Nate Kirkpatrick, furthering VCU’s advantage to 5-2.
Stone Lawless crushed a sixth-inning solo homer to bring the Vols within two before VCU elected to bring in relief ace Zach Peters in the seventh inning. After giving up a leadoff double to Garrett Wright, he retired the heart of the Tennessee order on a strikeout and two pop-ups.
The rally against Peters continued in the eighth, with Lawless coming up with a sac fly to bring the Vols to within one. However, they could not deliver ninth-inning magic again as they did against ECU, losing 5-4 to end their season.
Sick ace
The Vols entered the day needing length and quality from Kuhns. They did not, and his velocity and performance dipped in the third and fourth innings. However, the righty came into the day having dealt with illness over the past few days.
“It’s a guy who’s been sick the last two or three days,” Elander said. “He’s running back and forth, you guys can guess where in between innings, trying to put himself in a good spot, hydrating. He gave us everything he had, and just proud of how he competed today because he gave us everything.”
Elander said he was hoping to get 80 to 90 pitches out of Kuhns against VCU. The righty battled through 70 pitches before exiting the game after four innings of work.
Two-strike killer
The Rams had bases-loaded, two outs in the fifth against Frederick. The reliever was a strike away from getting out the inning unscathed, but Kirkpatrick came through with a crushing two-run double to stretch the lead.
Josh Elander said after the game that the goal was to get through the inning to bridge to Cam Appenzeller, with him going on back-to-back days and considering the long-term health of the freshman lefty.
The bullpen needed a zero in the fifth to keep the game close, but they couldn’t produce one. Ultimately, those runs proved decisive in the loss.
No clutch gene
Tennessee produced a lone hit with runners in scoring position in their loss to ECU. They produced none in their loss to VCU.
Five runners were left on base across the first two innings, with each rally being created with two outs. Still, the offense couldn’t execute with the opportunities they had.
“Just weren’t able to execute,” Elander said. “When you get a chance to blow the game open early or put pressure on the guys, we just didn’t do it the last two days, so that’ll be something that we look at.”
Two homers and a sac fly produced the Tennessee offense against the Rams’ pitching staff, but it didn’t produce the big swing needed to cash in. As a group, they went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, and finished 1-for-17 in those situations in the regional.
