Tennessee Powers Past Mississippi St., 5-2

Thursday, May 14

Knoxville

6:00 PM

University of Tennessee

Mississippi State

May 14, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- In the series opener against Mississippi State, Tennessee put together a complete team effort and used clutch hitting to power past the Bulldogs, 5-2, on Thursday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

With the win, the Volunteers improve to a 22-25 overall record and a 9-18 mark in SEC play, while Mississippi State (24-28) slips to 8-20 in conference competition.

"That was a fun night and I really liked the way we played," Head Coach Dave Serrano said. "Fundamental, good baseball and I'm proud of these guys. I thought the atmosphere was tremendous in the dugout. They were playing for each other and it was just a good win overall."

Offensively, the Vols were led by Nick Senzel (2-for-4, 3 RBI), Christin Stewart (2-for-4), Jordan Rodgers (2-for-4, RBI) and Andrew Lee (1-for-4, HR). Collectively, UT recorded nine hits against the Bulldogs including solo home runs from Senzel and Lee.

Following a 1-for-4, RBI performance in Thursday night's contest, Lee extended his current hit streak to 18 games, which marks the longest by a Volunteer this season and a career-long streak for the Tennessee native. Entering weekend competition, Lee's current streak was also tied for the second-longest streak in the SEC this year.

Tennessee traded runs with the Bulldogs in the first two frames, with the help of a towering solo home run by designated hitter Lee. After Mississippi State pushed one across in the first, Lee answered by sending a ball deep over the scoreboard in right field, marking his ninth homer of the season.

The Vols struck again in the third, as Nick Senzel crushed a solo home run to left-center field and gave Tennessee the go ahead run, 2-1. The home run marked Senzel's fourth of the season and the third in his last three games (since May 8 at Arkansas).

"Nick's doing great, and it's like he's swinging at a beach ball," Lee said. "He's seeing all the pitches and just taking great at bats and putting good swings on the ball. That's big for us, especially with having someone like him at the front of the lineup to get on base consistently, and then when the lineup turns over, he's bringing in RBIs for us. It's been a big help and it's a big deal for us right now."

In the fourth, Tennessee put up a crooked number on the Bulldogs, initiated by a bunt single from A.J. Simcox to begin the frame. Right fielder Jordan Rodgers hit an RBI-single to score Simcox before center fielder Chris Hall reached on a fielding error by MSU. With two outs, Senzel came up big for the Vols again and drove a two-RBI single to right field, giving UT a 5-1 advantage.

Starter Andy Cox dealt 7.0 innings for the Vols, holding the Bulldogs to just one run on three hits with six strikeouts in the outing to earn the win, his third of the year.

Righty Steven Kane went to work on the hill in the eighth and threw 0.2 inning, allowing one run before sophomore Kyle Serrano was called upon to hold the Bulldogs and retired his one batter faced. Andrew Lee took the mound in the ninth and closed things out for the Vols, picking up his ninth save of the season.

"Before the game, we were talking about how many games we're trying to win this weekend, and it was one," Lee said. "Win this one, and then we'll worry about the next one. We're just trying to focus on us right now. We know we need a little help, but it doesn't matter if we don't win our games, so that's what we're trying to focus on. Just get one at a time."

Game Two of Tennessee's home series against Mississippi State begins on Friday, May 15 at 6 p.m. ET. Junior lefty Drake Owenby (2-6) is slated to toe the rubber against Bulldogs righthander Preston Brown (5-7) at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

"We're not making this bigger than it is," Serrano said. "We know what we have created to this point. No matter what happens with other teams in this conference, I just want to go out with a good feeling for these guys. It's tough to have a good feeling because it's been such a rocky season, but if we can finish our season going 4-0 in our last week - which would be our longest winning streak of the year amazingly - it would be a good feeling going into the offseason."

For the most up-to-date information about the Tennessee baseball program, visit UTSports.com/baseball and follow @Vol_Baseball on Twitter.