Friday Night Letdown
Tennessee pitcher Tegan Kuhns began Friday’s contest with heat. The sophomore right-hander accounted for seven whiffs across 20 pitches in the opening frame. His first four strikeouts came via the fastball.
Kuhns then proceeded to give up three runs on five hits across the next two innings. Chase Woita’s RBI-double and Pierre Seals’ two-run homer sparked the Tigers in the top of the third inning. His shortest outing of the season ended with 47 strikes on 70 pitches after giving up a lead-off double in the fourth.
Kuhns struggled with command and righties did the most damage. On Friday, the Vols’ sophomore surrendered his first walk since allowing three against Kent State on Feb. 20. It will be interesting to monitor how Tennessee’s top prospect for the 2026 MLB draft will respond against Vanderbilt next weekend.
“Well, he was coming out humming,” head coach Josh Elander said of Kuhns’ outing. “It was 97-99 and cutting it loose.” And again, as the course of the year he and (Josh Reynolds) need to get with that as they continue to get better in post. You have to be able to throw five, six innings as a starter. We talk about it all day in the building – winning the starter battle – and we did not do that. But, he’s going to need to make some adjustments going into his next outing.”
Sophomore Blaine Brown knocked a solo home run at 110 mph exit velocity in the bottom of the seventh inning when the Vols were down 8-3. It would be the last run of the game, resulting in an 8-4 Friday night loss for the Volunteers.
Stone Lawless continues to be a steady presence for the Vols. The sophomore also homered Friday on a 2-for-4 night.
Vol Prospects Catching a Vibe on Saturday
Saturday’s contest began with Tennessee’s Landon Mack landing pitches for strikes and a couple of groundouts, as he spun 16 baseballs to the Tigers.
In Mack’s second frame, the right-hander walked the first two Missouri batters, which led to a two-run inning. The sophomore recovered enough to toss four innings and allow the Tennessee offense to collect three runs during his work. Mack continues to struggle with giving up free passes. He’s allowed 11 walks in his last 14 1/3 innings. Mack walked three and also hit a batter on Saturday night. The righty recorded five strikeouts against the Tigers, but his lead-off walk, followed by two singles, led to his exit in the fifth inning.
Freshman Trent Grindlinger recorded an RBI single for the Vols in his first SEC plate appearance. The single was his ninth hit as a Volunteer.
Draft-eligible sophomore Manny Marin extended his hit streak to 10 games with a single up the middle in the bottom of the seventh inning. The sophomore also drove in a run with a groundout in the third. Marin finished Saturday as the team leader in batting average through qualified plate appearances with a mark of .355.
Vols Freshman
Tennessee freshman Cam Appenzeller was sensational on Saturday. The left-hander came in relief of the fading Mack and dazzled in his second SEC appearance. Appenzeller utilized his deep arsenal of breaking balls and a commanding fastball to the tune of seven strikeouts over 4 2/3 innings. He allowed two hits and one walk, icing Missouri in the late innings and earning the win as Tennessee evened the series with a 4-2 victory.
Perhaps the biggest statement of Saturday’s contest came when Appenzeller entered the fray. The freshman inherited a bases-loaded jam and then escaped via two strikeouts and a popout to Marin.
“He’s not a normal freshman,” said Elander. “Maybe I’m being mean to him, because every time I bring him in, it’s bases loaded or some kind of fire going on. But he’s grown up. It’s a really good heart rate, good poise. He’s very excited about moving forward to the next week.”
How the Vols Sealed Sunday
A rubber match on Sunday afternoon resulted in an emphatic 7-1 Vols’ victory.
Tennessee’s Evan Blanco dueled with Missouri’s Brady Kehlenbrink. The matchup represented two starters who hold the highest strikeout rates on each respective team. Blanco sports a 36.1 K-rate coming into Sunday, while Kehlenbrink isn’t far behind at 34 1/3.
It would be the veteran Blanco who bested Kehlenbrink in the decisive Sunday contest. Blanco posted a career-high 7 2/3 innings pitched and allowed one run on five hits. The lone run allowed was a solo home run off the bat of Missouri’s Pierre Seals. The ball traveled 420 feet at 109 mph exit velocity into the porches in left field. Seals had a hit in every game on the weekend and drove in three runs for the Tigers.
As far as Kehlenbrink’s profile, the sophomore has a ton of room to grow as a left-handed starter. He flashes an effective pitch mix when control is active. On Sunday, Kehlenbrink showcased an above-average changeup and a commanding fastball. The lefty carries a looping curveball that he has had issues controlling at times. His work still generated nine strikeouts to just one walk. Kehlenbrink allowed four runs on five hits across 91 pitches. From this seat, he is the top Missouri prospect.
Tennessee’s Levi Clark homered for the first time in 15 games. His second home run of the season was an opposite-field two-run shot that punctuated a three-run inning in the fourth. Junior Garrett Wright followed suit with a two-run blast of his own in the eighth inning, stretching the Vols’ lead to six runs.
During Saturday’s post-game press conference, Clark mentioned how the catching corps rallied around each other. The trio of Lawless, Grindlinger and Clark batted in the final three spots of the lineup on Saturday. That group pieced together a score in each of Tennessee’s one-run frames. Clark also hit behind Lawless in Sunday’s series-clinching victory.
“Obviously, all three of us are super close,” Clark said about the catching group. “So we did notice that. We made a few jokes about it, but it was a lot of fun to be back-to-back with them.”
