Kentucky Gives Up Five Homers, Tennessee Takes Game One 10-6

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Looking to build off of his fantastic SEC debut a week ago, Kentucky's Travis Smith was put in an even bigger spot on Friday night, making only his second start on the road this season as No. 17 Kentucky looked to make a splash in its series-opener at No. 23 Tennessee.

Lindsey Nelson Stadium made for a much more raucous environment than Nick Denes Field at WKU in Bowling Green, however.

Needing only seven pitches to retire the side in order in the bottom of the first, it appeared as though the redshirt freshman was once again up for the challenge. The tides quickly turned, though, as the Volunteers shellacked three home runs in the next two innings off Smith, forcing an early exit and setting the tone for a 10-6 win over the Wildcats.

Tennessee (34-16, 13-12 SEC) scored seven runs in the third, hit five four-baggers in the beating and out-hit Kentucky (34-14, 14-11) 11-8, leading to the Wildcats' fourth series-opening loss in the last five weeks. Designated hitter Griffin Merritt walloped two homers and had five RBIs for the Vols.

The Vols entered the game with 101 homers on the season, 86 of which have come at LNS. That trend of demolishing baseballs to the tune of Rocky Top continued in a big way, much to the chagrin of the Cats.

"(Tennessee) got the ball in the air and got it out of the yard, which they do a lot at home. And that's what they're trying to do," Kentucky head coach Nick Mingione said following the loss.

Kentucky battled to the end and even put up three ninth-inning runs, but it didn't have enough time to fully mount a comeback. Leadoff man Jackson Gray continued his All-American campaign with two more hits and three RBIs, belting a two-run homer in the ninth against a left-hander.

"That's one of the many things I love about this team, is it doesn't matter the score, the inning, it doesn't matter," Mingione said. "They always feel like we can come back, and I think I would tell you that that dugout thought we were going to come back in that game — and we did, just ran out of outs. But they continue to believe and fight to the very end."

Tennessee starter Andrew Lindsey countered Smith's quick first with a nine-pitch top of the second, which included catcher Cal Stark gunning down UK left fielder Ryan Waldschmidt attempting to steal second base after singling on the first pitch of the frame.

The Volunteer batters made it a point to try and jump on Smith early in counts, as exhibited by Christian Moore, who cranked a loud solo homer on the first pitch he saw to lead off the bottom of the second. The second baseman took a mid-90s fastball to the upper deck of the left-field stands for a 440-foot bomb, his 13th of the season.

Some good fortune from Lindsey helped UK tie things up in the top of the third. Right fielder James McCoy continued where he left off from his three-homer weekend against South Carolina, opening the frame with a double to the right-center gap after fouling off a pair of two-strike pitches.

Nine-hole hitter Grant Smith bunted him over to third, turning the order over Gray. In a 1-0 count, he hit a chopper right back at Lindsey, who turned to his right and saw that he had McCoy in a rundown.

The junior right-hander rushed his throw to Zane Denton, however, and it went over the third baseman's head, allowing the run to score. Gray got to third base in the inning, but Lindsey got Hunter Gilliam to ground out to second to retire the side.

Tennessee proceeded to answer in a monstrous way with the seven-run third, as it slugged three home runs and totaled five hits. Following a leadoff-walk, CF Hunter Ensley worked a full count after falling behind 1-2, then proceeded to smush a fastball over the top deck in left for a two-run shot, putting UT ahead 3-1.

Two pitches later, LF Jared Dickey blasted one off the scoreboard in right field to go back-to-back with Ensley for his 11th big fly of the season. T. Smith (4-2) then issued a walk and allowed a single, leading to the end of his short stint on the bump.

"(Tennessee) got the ball in the air and hit some home runs. Obviously, (Smith) didn't have his best stuff tonight, but this was an experience that he'll be able to learn from," Mingione said.

Kentucky inserted lefty Jackson Nove in the game to try and stop the bleeding, but it instead began to gush, as the first batter he faced was Merritt, who cracked his first homer of the game, a three-run job to left. Stark later doubled home a run to cap off the gigantic frame that put the game out of reach for the Wildcats, though they never stopped fighting.

Catcher Devin Burkes — who entered Friday hitting .218 in SEC play and .203 on the road — notched his first home run since March 21 in the top of the fifth to make it 8-2, while Gray doubled in the seventh to drive in his 30th run of the season before mashing his two-run homer in the ninth.

"I just love — Devin has given us as good of at-bats as anybody, and I think Jackson Gray is another one. You saw tonight, had a couple of hard hit balls, so great ABs from Jackson. Devin's coming. You could see it last week and it's carried over into this week," Mingione said.

Merritt notched his second round-tripper in the sixth, hitting an opposite-field two-run shot to right for Tennessee's final offensive act. Lindsey (1-2) earned the win, pitching 6.2 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) on six hits, striking out four while walking two. Kentucky issued 10 walks on the mound and went 3-for-15 with runners on base at the plate.

The Wildcats and Vols will continue with game two of the series on Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for noon EST. The game will air on the SEC Network.

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