Gavin Kilen homered to right-center field in the first inning, but that would serve as No. 4 Tennessee’s only lead Saturday in an 8-5 loss at No. 7 Ole Miss that squared the series.
The Volunteers won Friday night’s opener 3-2 behind Liam Doyle’s 14 strikeouts.
“We didn’t play that well,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said after his Vols fell to 30-5 overall and to 10-4 in Southeastern Conference contests. “If you go offense, defense and pitching, there wasn’t any of those three areas where we were even close to being as good as we can be. Give credit to the opponent for the swings they took and the pitches they made, but it just wasn’t our best.
“It was a back-and-forth battle, and you’ve got to play as well as you can in each of those phases.”
The Rebels improved to 27-8 and to 9-5 within the league.
Ole Miss quickly erased the 1-0 deficit with three first-inning runs that occurred via two walks, a double and a single. The Rebels would build a 6-2 lead that was trimmed to 6-4 in the sixth inning on Dalton Bargo’s two-run homer to right-center, but Ole Miss scored two of its own later in the sixth on RBI singles by Austin Fawley and Isaac Humphrey.
The Vols lost despite amassing three homers, with Levi Clark going deep to center in the second inning to briefly pull them within 3-2.
Tennessee starting pitcher Marcus Phillips worked into the fourth inning and allowed five runs on four hits and three walks. It was his second consecutive defeat, as the 6-foot-4, 246-pounder fell to 2-2 with a 3.30 earned run average.
“Last night was so emotional, and maybe he came out and tried to do too much and replicate what Liam was doing instead of trying to be himself,” Vitello said.
The rubber match between the Vols and Rebels will be Sunday afternoon at 3 Eastern, with the game televised by the SEC Network.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.