After a rough night on Friday, the Kentucky Wildcats (19-8, 5-3 SEC) bounced back from a 14-5 loss and beat the Vols (17-10, 3-5 SEC) by a final score of 5-4 on Saturday.
From a pitching standpoint, game two looked much like a Friday matchup, with Tennessee and Kentucky both trotting out their ace. But it was Kentucky’s Dustin Beggs improving to 7-0 on the season, beating UT ace Zach Warren (7.1 IP, 9 H, 3 ER, 4 K) in a tight matchup.
Beggs lasted into the ninth inning, recording eight strikeouts and allowing four runs on seven hits.
This one was a pitchers’ duel for much of the game. Dorian Hariston reached base to lead off the fifth inning when Zach Warren committed a throwing error. Three batters later, SS Riley Mahan singled up the middle to score Hariston with two outs, giving the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
Tennessee would respond quickly. The Vols rallied in the sixth inning, starting with back-to-back one-out singles from Benito Santiago and Chris Hall. Nick Senzel sent a fastball to the right center gap to tie the game up at two.
“I just keep trying to attack the fastball,” Senzel said after the game. “Just trying to stick to what I do and drive the ball to the opposite field.”
After Kentucky chased Zach Warren and scored four runs in the eighth, Tennessee went into the ninth with the heart of the order up, trailing No. 12 Kentucky by three. Senzel delivered once again, leading off the inning with his second double of the night, this time to left-center. Vincent Jackson doubled over center fielder Storm Wilson’s head to score Senzel and cut the UK lead to two.
Kentucky brought on 6-foot-11 reliever Sean Hjelle after Jackson’s double. Hjelle struck out Jordan Rodgers, but Tennessee’s rally continued when Leno Ramirez doubled down the left field line to put the winning run at the plate in the form of pinch hitter Matt Waldren. After Waldren reached on a catcher’s interference, Derek Lance grounded out to first to end the game.
Assistant coach Aric Thomas said the approach at the plate against UK starter Dustin Beggs did not change in the ninth inning.
“We knew we were wearing (Beggs) down a little,” Thomas said. “You’re down three, you may take a strike to run up the pitch count, but we trust our guys. He hadn’t walked a guy all day long. We said that we’re going to hit our way back in this game. I’ll take my chances with our guys against a guy who’s tired headed into the ninth inning.”
Sophomore ace Zach Warren lasted 7.1 innings, giving up nine hits and three earned runs on 94 pitches. It was the first time Warren had lasted into the eighth inning in his career as a Vol.
Warren worked well with the low fastball all night, but in the eighth Warren lost some control of his stuff as his pitch count climbed into the nineties. Riley Mahan led off the inning with a double, followed by a Kole Cottam double down the left-field line.
“For the double down the line, that one was an elevated fastball that was supposed to be inside,” Warren said. “Two pitches were a little bit elevated and they put good swings on them.”
With Kentucky’s ace on the mound, Warren and the Vols had to be sharp defensively. Warren picked off two baserunners at first and Benito Santiago gunned down a Riley Mahan stolen base attempt in the fifth.
“It’s the same mentality every game,” Warren added. “There’s not much margin for error in any SEC baseball game. You’ve got to be on from pitch number one and it wasn’t quite enough today. Any out you can get in an SEC game is huge. The two pickoffs were great calls by Coach, and another thrown out runner from Benito is huge. It changes the whole tide of the game.”
Looking ahead to game three, Senzel said he feels confident in his team’s offense based on its production in the ninth inning.
“That ninth inning is very big, I’m very proud of our guys,” Senzel added after the game. “That momentum carries a lot more than you know to the next day. We’re down three and we scratch and claw back and get that momentum back for tomorrow. I think it will pay huge dividends.”
“These guys fight, we feel like we can put up a crooked number on the board at any time,” Aric Thomas said. “It gives you good energy. It definitely gives us some good momentum going into tomorrow.”
The Vols and Wildcats will face off in game three at 2 p.m. ET from Lindsey Nelson. Senior Andy Cox (2-2, 7.31 ERA) will pitch for Tennessee.
