Volunteers Defeated at #8 Kentucky, 15-5

Friday, May 12

Lexington, KY

6:30 PM

University of Tennessee

26-20, 7-16

Kentucky

34-16, 16-9

Tennessee

Kentucky

May 12, 2017 | Baseball

Box Score

May 12, 2017

Box Score

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Tennessee fell behind early in its series opener at No. 8-ranked Kentucky and could not recover, as the Wildcats ran away with a 15-5 victory on Friday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium.

With the loss, Tennessee now stands at 26-20 (7-16 SEC), while the Wildcats move to 34-16 and 16-9 in conference play this year.

Providing UT's first run of the night, redshirt senior Jeff Moberg was 1-for-1 with two walks and a solo home run, his eighth of the year. Andre Lipcius recorded UT's lone multi-hit game with a 2-for-4, 2 RBI effort.

A solo home run from Kentucky's Evan White put the Cats up, 1-0, in the first. UK opened the second inning with three base hits before a double by White furthered the Cats' lead to 4-0.

After a two-run third inning gave the Wildcats a 6-0 advantage, Moberg blasted a solo home run to straight-away center field to give UT its first run of the night.

A four-run fourth inning pushed UK ahead, 10-1, before back-to-back homers by Riley Mahan and Troy Squires in the sixth lifted UK to a 12-1 lead over the Volunteers. A two-run longball by Cats' left fielder Zach Reks and an RBI-groundout later made it a 15-1 ballgame entering the eighth.

A two-run single by Andre Lipcius and bases loaded situations helped trim UT's deficit with a four-run ninth inning, but a fly ball to center field ended the game.

Senior Hunter Martin went 3.2 innings, his shortest start of the year, and allowed nine runs (eight earned) on 10 hits for the loss.

Recent Tennessee graduate and righthander Eric Freeman was called upon in the fourth and dealt 2.2 innings. The Vols then saw relief appearances from Jacob Westphal (0.2) and Quint Robinson (1.0).

TENNESSEE QUICK HITS

With the loss, Tennessee moves to 156-138 in its all-time series against Kentucky, including a 54-42 mark in games played in Lexington, Kentucky.
Jeff Moberg now shares the team lead with eight home runs on the year, following his solo homer to straight-away center field on Friday at Cliff Hagan Stadium (also, Jordan Rodgers).
Despite the loss, Tennessee has wins in seven of its last 10 games. The 15-5 loss marks just the third SEC game in which the Vols have allowed double-digit runs scored by their opponents.
Reliever Jacob Westphal made his first appearance since April 15 vs. Auburn.
Friday's attendance at Cliff Hagan Stadium: 2,368
On Deck for the Vols: Game Two of Tennessee's weekend series at Kentucky begins on Saturday, May 13 at 2 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ stream.