Tennessee Run-Rules Game 2 Against Florida Baseball

The No. 7 Florida baseball team lost 10-0 in seven innings of Game 2 of the SEC opening series against No. 2 Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday.

Tennessee took a 1-0 lead in the second inning. Both starting pitchers excelled on the mound. Freshman right-handed pitcher Aidan King (3-1) showed out during his first SEC start. Throwing six complete innings, he struck out six, walked one and gave up only one run.

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Marcus Phillips (2-0) pitched the seven innings for the Volunteers, striking out seven, walking one and giving up no runs on 110 pitches.

Seventh-Inning Stretch

The Gators (16-4, 0-2 SEC) let the seventh get away from them, as the Volunteers (19-0, 2-0) scored nine runs to bring about the run-rule with the 10-run lead.

Freshman Jackson Barberi started the inning by allowing two singles and a walk to load bases. He was pulled a third of the inning in after Tennessee’s Dean Curley took advantage of the loaded bases by clearing them on a double.

Matthew Jenkins followed Barberi and give up another run on six pitches. Caden McDonald then stepped in, but couldn’t stop the Vols, as Andrew Fischer hit a two-run single to push the score to 7-0. Reese Chapman then finished the game with a three-run homer to help UT clinch the series.

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Tennessee handed Florida its first shutout loss of the season. Although the Gators had five hits, they could not turn them into runs.

“The seventh inning just got away from us,” Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan said. “You can live with giving up the hits. That’s part of the game. But the walks and the wild pitches, and when it gets sloppy like that, that’s not what we’re about.

“So, it’s unfortunate the game got away from us, because I think if we could have put a zero on the board in the bottom of the seventh, we had (Alex) Philpott down there ready to go, if we could scratch across a run or so. Obviously, that wasn’t the case.”

Sunday’s Finale

A win for the Gators on Sunday would break Tennessee’s undefeated record and salvage the series. Game time is at 1 p.m on SEC Network+ and ESPN 98.1-FM/850-AM WRUF and WJXL 1010-AM. 

Florida is expected to start sophomore righty Jake Clemente (1-0, 3.86 ERA). Tennessee hasn’t named a starter.