University of Tennessee
Kentucky
Wildcats Top Volunteers, 3-1
April 17, 2015 | Baseball
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The Kentucky Wildcats held Tennessee to five hits in Friday night's contest, coming out on top of the Volunteers in a 3-1 victory in the second of a three-game conference series at Cliff Hagan Stadium.
With the loss, the Volunteers move to 15-19 on the season and 5-12 in SEC play. Kentucky improves to 21-16 with a 7-9 conference record entering Saturday's series finale.
For the second straight game, Tennessee's starting pitcher battled for the Vols, as righthander Bret Marks went 6.2 innings in his start against the Wildcats. He allowed three runs (one earned) on eight hits with eight strikeouts, while recording a rare feat of four strikeouts in the sixth inning.
"I thought Bret Marks threw one heck of a baseball game," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "He really battled and didn't want to come out, but I thought it was the right time. I liked our battle more tonight. It didn't show by the scoreboard, but I thought the attention to detail was better. We still made mistakes. A lot of things are going against us right now. I'm not going to sit and dwell over why that's happening but it's just something we'll continue to have to overcome."
The Wildcats pulled ahead with a 2-0 lead in the third, scoring on a RBI-double from first baseman Evan White and a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat by left fielder Ka'ai Tom.
Tennessee played scrappy, hard-nosed defense over the next four frames, including a heads-up, unassisted double play by third baseman Jared Pruett in the fourth. The Vols held Kentucky until the seventh inning, when UK pushed an additional insurance run across to make it a 3-0 ballgame.
Designated hitter Andrew Lee went to the mound for the Vols in the seventh and finished the game, recording three strikeouts to hold Kentucky.
The Vols came back to threaten in the top of the ninth, as junior Christin Stewart led off the frame with a standup double, moving to third on an outfield hit by Lee and coming around to score. But a double play and groundout ended the rally for the Volunteers.
"I truly believe, like I said to this team, something is forcing this upon us to make us tougher," Serrano said. "We're not tough right now and we've got to get tougher. We lost the sweep by losing last night and we lost the series by losing tonight. There are other people in this league that are struggling right now, too. Tomorrow is a big game for us to come out with all the attitude in the world."
In the series finale between the schools on Saturday, April 18, lefthander Drake Owenby gets the starting nod for the Vols in a 12 p.m. ET start on SEC Network television.
For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee baseball program, visit UTSports.com/baseball and follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter.
