In their first matchup ever as members of the SEC, Oklahoma and Tennessee put on one to remember. Playing in Oklahoma City, the home of Triple-A Comets, both offenses lit up the scoreboard in a back and forth affair.
Tennessee fell in a quick 3-0 hole, but an explosive third inning woke the Vols up. RBI doubles from Reese Chapman and Blake Grimmer kept the lineup moving, while Blaine Brown and Manny Marin also joined the fun. Tennessee batted around in the inning, putting four runs on the board to
take the lead briefly.
Tennessee starter Tegan Kuhns, coming off of a brilliant start last weekend against Texas, didn’t have it on Thursday. Oklahoma put up two more runs in the third and fourth inning, chasing Kuhns after 5.0 innings pitched. Kuhns threw a total of 108 pitches on the night, coming off of a 113 pitch performance last week.
The Volunteers had answers all night long, however. Levi Clark blasted his 12th home run of the season to retake the lead at 6-5 in the fifth, putting Kuhns in position to somehow steal the win.
Henry Ford added a two-run shot of his own to extend Tennessee’s lead to 8-5.
Cam Appenzeller quieted the Oklahoma bats for a bit, but surrendered a tw0-run home run in the bottom of the eighth. Bo Rhudy came on to get the final out of the eighth, then got a little insurance from Marin. Rhudy would go on to shut things down in the ninth.
Tennessee won 9-7, moving to 36-18 overall and 14-14 in SEC play.
“I think gritty is a great word,” Josh Elander said after the game. “I love the way they competed. I mean, got punched in the mouth right out of the gate and good job by our offense by staying in it, stacking a couple of good innings back and back. Just playing good baseball.”
Kuhns, despite the rough outing, did end up getting the win.
“Tegan didn’t have his best stuff tonight,” Elander said. “Competed. I mean, he was a warrior out there for him to get us over 100 pitches and a lot of really good things.
“Wasn’t a ton of takeoff on the heater today, but you just got to find a way to get it done this time of year. I thought he did a really good job of competing.”
Tennessee is solidly in the NCAA Tournament field and looking to improve their standing this weekend in Oklahoma City. Of course, you’ve got plenty of jockeying going in in the SEC Tournament field as the seeds continue to shuffle around with each and every result. Tennessee is currently in a tie for tenth in the SEC standings, but we have plenty more to figure out over the next couple of days.
The Volunteers and Sooners will be back in action tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET. Evan Blanco will get the ball for Tennessee.
