University of Tennessee
Kentucky
Newton, Wildcats Edge Vols, 7-6
March 25, 2000 | Baseball
Kentucky's Robert Newton hit his second home run of the game in the top of the 10th inning to break a 6-6 tie that gave the Wildcats a 7-6 win over the Tennessee Volunteers on Saturday.
With the win, Kentucky moves to 21-4 on the year and 3-4 in the Southeastern Conference and will stake claim to their first SEC series win of the year. The Volunteers fall to 23-8 and 3-4 in the SEC and will try to avoid a three-game sweep in the final game of the series that is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Sunday afternoon.
Kentucky took the early after the Wildcats scored runs in the first and second innings to go ahead of the Vols 2-0. Tennessee answered in their half of the second when Ryan Case hit a RBI single that scored John Massey to bring the Vols within one. Tennessee took over the lead in the third when Jeff Christensen and Stevie Daniel each scored runs that gave Tennessee a 3-2 lead.
Kentucky's Robert Newton blasted his first home run of the game in the fourth inning that tied the score. Both teams traded the lead in the next three innings until the game was forced into extra innings for the second straight day.
The Vols had runners in scoring positions in both the eighth and ninth innings but were unable to drive in the winning run. Newton connected on his second home run of the game with no outs in the top of the 10th to put the Wildcats in the lead.
Tennessee's Chris Burke hit a double with two outs in the bottom of the 10th and advanced to third on a wild pitch to give the Vols a runner in striking distance. On the next at-bat, Kentucky shortstop Jeff Meade ended the Vols hope of tying the game when he fielded an infield grounder by Kris Bennett to get the final out of the game.
