No. 14 Tennessee (41-13, 16-12 SEC) opened a three-game series at No. 5 Arkansas (41-12, 18-10 SEC) with a, 10-7, victory on Thursday at Baum–Walker Stadium in Fayetteville, Arkansas.
Rankings reflect the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
Marcus Phillips started for Tennessee and pitched 4.1 innings and recorded three strikeouts. He totaled 87 pitches, including 55 strikes, against 22 batters.
Dylan Loy (six pitches), AJ Russell (43 pitches), Tanner Franklin (three pitches) and Nate Snead (43 pitches) pitched in relief for the Vols. Russell (1-0) earned his first win in 2025 and recorded three strikeouts against 10 batters.
Eighth-year Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello recapped the Vols’ pitching performance in the series opener.
“The pitching group, as a whole, is a team effort, because D-Loy (Dylan Loy) and T-Frank (Tanner Franklin) were the least amount, as far as pitch count, but those were two massive outs,” Vitello said. “Then Nate Snead grinded out what are the most difficult outs at the end of the game, but the table was set.
“Marcus (Phillips) was asked to throw on short, kind of short, notice there because of some stuff with Liam (Doyle), get him rested up, and of course, AJ (Russell) behind him has still been trying to find his way where he’s in a rhythm because he’s been coming off injuries. Both guys battled adversity before we even got here, and then in the stadium with the crowd, of course, the great lineup. One of the, I don’t know, statistically, but probably you can argue one of the better, if not best, lineup in the country, so big time performance by all those guys.”
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