No. 5 Lady Vols Hold On to Beat No. 15/18 Arkansas, 6-4, in SEC Home Opener

Friday, March 22

Knoxville, Tenn.

4 pm

University of Tennessee

25-4, 3-1

Arkansas

21-8, 3-4

Arkansas

Tennessee

Photo by: Austin Perryman/Tennessee Athletics

No. 5 Lady Vols Hold On to Beat No. 15/18 Arkansas, 6-4, in SEC Home Opener

March 22, 2019 | Softball

Box Score Box Score Photo Gallery Highlights Co-Head Coach Ralph Weekly Postgame Interview Senior Aubrey Leach Postgame Interview

By: Rachel Gunia

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – In No. 5 Tennessee's Southeastern Conference home opener, the Lady Vols defeated No. 15/18 Arkansas, 6-4, at Sherri Parker Lee Stadium to improve to 25-4 on the year and 3-1 in SEC play. UT is now 18-5 in SEC home openers and 22-2 all-time against Arkansas in Knoxville.

Freshman pitcher Ashley Rogers threw 10 strikeouts through 5.2 innings of work to pick up her 10th win of the year. She held the Razorbacks scoreless until the fourth inning when Arkansas plated two runs. Rogers first handed the ball over to Caylan Arnold in relief in the sixth, but re-entered to record the final out of the frame. Tennessee turned to right-hander Matty Moss in the seventh to preserve UT's lead. The senior allowed no runs in a bases-loaded situation to pick up the save.

The first run of the game came in the bottom of the third inning off the bat of Amanda Ayala. With one out, Aubrey Leach hit a double before Ayala roped an RBI single to right, making it 1-0 in favor of UT.

In the fourth, Arkansas' Ashley Diaz hit a home run with a runner on base, giving the Razorbacks a 2-1 lead.

The Lady Vols responded quickly with four runs in the bottom of the frame. The scoring streak started with back-to-back runners reaching base followed by an RBI double by Leach, giving Tennessee a 3-2 advantage. Junior Chelsea Seggern then hit a single and drove in two runs, extending UT's lead to 5-2.

Freshman Kaili Phillips continued the explosive hitting in the fifth inning with a double and eventually scored on a 1-3 RBI groundout by junior Cailin Hannon, putting Tennessee on top 6-2.

In the sixth inning, Arnold entered to face four batters before Rogers re-entered for the Big Orange. Arkansas attempted a rally, scoring two runs to make it 6-4 before Rogers fired a strikeout to end the threat.

Rogers faced three batters in the seventh before Moss came in to close. Entering with runners on second and third, Moss walked her first batter to load the bases. She then threw back-to-back strikeouts to end the game and earn the save.

LIGHTS OUT: Ashley Rogers threw her 100th strikeout of the season in the second inning against Arkansas' Aly Manzo and had 10 total on the day through 5.2 innings. The Lady Vols combined for 13 strikeouts total in the outing and used three K's to get out of RISP jams.

ON DECK: No. 5 Tennessee hosts No. 15 Arkansas in Game 2 of the series on Saturday, March 23, at 6 p.m. ET. The game will be aired on the SEC Network. UTSports.com and the Tennessee Gameday App will also carry a live radio broadcast.