KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — No. 4 Tennessee baseball took down No. 3 Kentucky in Lexington on Saturday afternoon behind a flurry of home runs.
On Friday night, The Vols fell to the Wildcats in Game 1 after Kentucky capitalized on some fielding errors made in the final innings of the matchup.
Tennessee rebounded with a decisive 9-4 win against the Wildcats and hit six home runs for the fifth time this season, and the second time in the last three games.
In the first inning, Christian Moore hit a solo home run to right field, which propelled immediate momentum from the plate for the remainder of the inning. His big swing tied Blake Burke's home run record at Tennessee. The two Vols had 43 a piece until Burke was up to bat next. Just one pitch later, Burke launched his 44th career homer to take back the lead.
The hits didn't stop there. In the same inning, Kavares Tears doubled to right center and scored Billy Amick. Dylan Dreiling and Dean Curly hit RBI doubles to make it a 5-0 game. Kentucky pitcher Dominic Niman was pulled from the game before recording an out.
Kentucky's first at-bat held some offensive success as well. Ryan Waldschmidt hit a home run off Drew Beam's first pitch on the mound for Tennessee. The Wildcats added an RBI single in the bottom of the first to cut into the Vol's lead, 5-2.
Tears found more success at the top of the second. The outfielder hit his 12th home run of the season to notch another run for the Vols. Dylan Dreiling added another big swing down the right-field line in the top of the fifth and Tennessee led 7-2.
Kentucky plated two more batters in the fifth, but Dreiling launched another homer in the top of the eighth inning. His 15th home run on the season gave Tennessee a 9-4 lead.
Tennessee and Kentucky will square off with the weekend series on the line on Sunday, April 21 at 1 p.m.
