Tennessee Baseball Takes Game 1 Against Georgia

The Tennessee Volunteers hit the road for a 3-game series with in-conference foe, the Georgia Bulldogs.

Friday night saw a very competitive conference opener for the Vols. Tennessee took an early 2-run lead before the Dawgs battled back to tie the game at 4 a piece.

The road team would add 3 more runs to put the Bulldogs away and seal the first win of the series.

Coming into the game, Georgia had the best batting average in the SEC, while the Vols were dead last. The teams seemed to swap places by the end of the night.

The bats of the Vols were very active tonight, while Tennessee's pitchers limited the Dawgs about as well as you can with the powerful lineup they produce.

Henry Ford, Stone Lawless, and Manny Marin led the way for the Vols in terms of batting as their play throughout the night was nothing but clutch.

Ford finished with a homerun and 3 RBIs on 2-hits. Lawless had a clutch homer late in the game, while Marin duplicated the numbers as Ford on 1 less at-bat.

Brandon Arvidson closed the night out on the mound and was very impactful facing the Georgia batters.

Arvidson pitched 4.1 innings only giving up 2-hits and not allowing a single run, which would be huge in the efforts of Tennessee chasing a road win.

Following the game Coach Josh Elander, 3B Henry Ford, and P Brandon Arvidson would meet with the media to discuss the hard-fought win.

Josh Elander

As mentioned earlier, the batting averages were polar opposites, and by the conclusion of the game, the teams essentially balanced out as the Vols had just a bit more success in the box. Coach Elander offers his thoughts.

"Yeah, each series is mutually exclusive, and anything can happen. With our group, we've talked about getting better each day. We've played some good competition; we haven't played our best. So, it's been nice in retrospect to be able to look back and say we need to do x, y, and z better. Then also too, it will force the guys to make adjustments a little bit quicker if they're not having the success they want. So, this is what we're doing well. This is what we need to continue doing. This is what we need to adjust, and that;s what this league is about, is adjusting game to game, week to week. It's a chess match of when the pitching coaches flip or whatever it may be. But good job to our guys for having, sticking with the approach and taking some great swings," Elander explained.

Henry Ford

Henry Ford may have been the most impactful batter of the night as his hit in the 3rd-inning put the Vols up 2-0, and his homer broke the 4-4 tie later in the game.

T7

3B Henry Ford goes the distance

Tennessee 5
UGA 4@VolsOnSI | @BulldogsOnSI pic.twitter.com/Nu40xSgXiD
— Dale Dowden (@Dale_Dowden) March 14, 2026

What was Ford seeing from the plate? Anything new?

"Um, no. I mean, you know those are two great pitchers and they got a great pitching staff, you know, (they) pitch really well and I was just fortunate enough to get a good pitch and put a good swing on it," Ford detailed.

Brandon Arvidson

Arvidson pitched just over 4-innings of the game tonight, only allowing 2-hits and 0-runs.

Ball Game

Tennessee 7
UGA 4@VolsOnSI | @BulldogsOnSI pic.twitter.com/1LH1yninG0
— Dale Dowden (@Dale_Dowden) March 14, 2026

A huge weight has to be removed when your batters are point points on the board as you hold the other team scoreless. Stone Lawless and Manny Marin having two huge homers late in the game made the late pitching a bit more comfortable.

"Oh my gosh. I mean, those runs were huge right there because I get a runner on right there to lead off the inning, and if it's a one-run ball game, we're, you know, it's a little more stressful. And Stoner (Stone Lawless), he was struggling a little bit today at the plate, but you know, I just told him to settle down, just see the ball up. And I mean, he just leaned back on one. And the Manny's just, he's been ultra-competitive all season. He struggled a little bit at the start, but he's been out of his mind lately," Arvidson said.

Saturday's Game 2 of the series between Tennessee and Georgia is set for a 5pm eastern time pitch.

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