Kilen Continues Torrid Start as #1/3 Vols Rout Rice, 13-3

Saturday, March 1

Houston, Texas

12:05 PM

University of Tennessee

10-0

Rice

2-7

Tennessee

Rice

Kilen Continues Torrid Start as #1/3 Vols Rout Rice, 13-3

March 01, 2025 | Baseball

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HOUSTON – Led by another incredible day at the plate by Gavin Kilen, No. 1/3 Tennessee improved to 2-0 at the Astros Foundation College Classic with a 13-3 victory over Rice on Saturday afternoon at Daikin Park.

After hitting a pair of solo homers in Friday's win over Oklahoma State, Kilen topped that performance by going 4-for-5 with two more long balls, five runs scored and four RBIs while finishing a single short of the cycle.

The Volunteers (10-0) scored seven of their 13 runs in the first two innings with three in the first and four more in the second to jump out to an early 7-1 lead.

Starting pitcher Marcus Phillips was able to shake off a rocky start after allowing a run in the first inning to tie a career-high in strikeouts with eight over 4.2 innings of work. The junior righthander scattered five hits and allowed just one walk on the day.

Redshirt freshman reliever Brayden Sharp earned his first-career win after tossing 1.1 scoreless innings in relief of Phillips, striking out a pair of batters and not allowing a hit in his outing.

Lots of Extra Bases

UT finished the game with six extra-base hits, including three home runs. Kilen accounted for four of those hits with two homers, a double and a triple. The junior infielder now has four long balls for the weekend and leads the team with seven on the year.

Stone Lawless and Levi Clark had the other two extra-base knocks with a double and a three-run home run, respectively.

Another Day Full of Strikeouts

Tennessee's pitching staff continues to rack up strikeouts at an impressive rate, finishing with 17 in Saturday's victory, marking its fourth time this season with 15 or more in a game. The Vols have fanned double-digit batters in all but two contests this year.

Up Next

The Big Orange square off against No. 24/NR Arizona on Sunday at 11 a.m. ET to wrap up their stay in Houston. The game can be streamed on Astros.com and the Houston Astros social media channels (X, Facebook, YouTube).