Hunter Ensley launched a two-run home run Saturday for the Tennessee Volunteers, while Gavin Kilen and Andrew Fischer hit solo homers.
They weren’t nearly enough.
Vanderbilt used a three-run fourth inning and a four-run sixth inning to post a 10-6 victory over the Vols before a crowd of 6,329 inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The No. 10 Commodores improved to 35-16 overall and to 15-11 in Southeastern Conference play, while No. 12 Tennessee slipped to 39-12 and 15-11.
“They came back as we knew they would with their best punch and took some good swings,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference afterward. “On the defensive side and the pitching side, which are married together, we weren’t as good as we needed to be. It was frustrating to have those things spiral in a couple of those innings.
“You feel like you have things under control, and then it turns into a hot mess.”
The rubber match of this in-state rivalry will be Sunday at 3 p.m., and it will be televised by ESPN2. The Commodores have won five consecutive SEC series finales and will start Connor Fennell, who is 5-0 this season with a 3.20 earned run average, while the Vols have dropped three straight series finales and four of their past five.
Vanderbilt’s win Saturday was its first in Knoxville since 2021.
“This rivalry is intense,” Commodores left fielder Braden Holcomb said. “It’s as fun as it gets.”
Holcomb’s two-run homer to right-center field off Tennessee starting pitcher Marcus Phillips in the fourth inning put Vanderbilt ahead to stay at 4-2.
Phillips struggled out of the gate, hitting Rustan Rigdon with the first pitch of the game. Rigdon stole second and third before scoring on RJ Austin’s groundout to put Vanderbilt up 1-0, but Ensley gave the Vols a 2-1 advantage later in the first with his blast to right.
In his second-shortest outing of the season, Phillips retired 11 of the 18 batters he faced, giving up five runs on five hits and two hit batters. The Commodores tallied six stolen bases at his expense.
“We just needed to respond more than anything,” Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said in reference to Friday night’s 3-2 loss. “We did a nice job offensively. There really is no lead that’s sufficient in this ballpark, particularly with that group.
“Our mission was to get on base and run.”
Vandy took a 6-2 in the fifth when Holcomb’s single to right scored Riley Nelson, but the Vols got within 6-4 later that inning on RBI singles up the middle by Dalton Bargo and Dean Curley. Homers by Kilen and Fischer came consecutively in the seventh inning, but RJ Austin’s two-run single to left had already highlighted the big sixth inning for the Commodores that made it a 10-4 game.
The bright spot for Tennessee came in the form of junior pitcher AJ Russell, who entered with one out in the sixth inning and threw the rest of the game for his longest outing of the season. He would allow just two hits and one run while striking out five batters.
“More than anything, he was able to build his pitch count up a little bit,” Vitello said. “It was valuable for him, but it was also valuable for our team.”
Vitello said that freshman Tegan Kuhns, who is 2-2 this season with a 3.94 ERA, would likely start Sunday.
“The bottom line is we’ve got to turn the page from what went on today,” Vitello said. “The sooner you start getting ready for tomorrow, the better.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.