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STARKVILLE, Miss. – A complete team effort led Tennessee to its 10th straight win over No. 8/9 Mississippi State as the Volunteers jumped out to an early lead and rode strong pitching performances from Tegan Kuhns and Brandon Arvidson to a 6-2 victory on Saturday night at Dudy Noble Field.
Took the series in Starkvegas!#GBO 🍊 // #OTH pic.twitter.com/0RP8XoSpgz
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) April 12, 2026
The Vols (23-12, 6-8 SEC) raced out to a 4-0 lead over the first two innings behind a Reese Chapman solo blast in the top of the first and some excellent offensive execution during a three-run second.
VOLS WIN! SERIES SECURED!
📺https://t.co/pB92M6ljwc #GBO🍊 // #OTH pic.twitter.com/f1mm7uB6MJ
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) April 12, 2026
Levi Clark drove in the first run of the second inning with a ground-rule double that was scorched to left-center field before Jay Abernathy plated Manny Marin from third with a perfectly placed squeeze bunt. Garrett Wright capped the frame with a sacrifice fly for the first of two RBIs for him on the night.
M9 | Gleason strikes out the side in order in the top of the ninth.
Arv back to the bump to try and finish this one off!
6-2 Vols
📺https://t.co/pB92M6ljwc#GBO🍊 // #OTH pic.twitter.com/z4QqlJ357O
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) April 12, 2026
That would prove to be plenty of run support for Kuhns, who was fantastic in six innings of work, allowing just two runs on four hits while striking out an SEC career-best seven batters to earn his second win of the year.
Have a day Jay!!!
📺https://t.co/pB92M6ljwc #GBO🍊 // #OTH pic.twitter.com/PTOGGf4TaL
— Tennessee Baseball (@Vol_Baseball) April 12, 2026
After a leadoff solo home run from Gehrig Frei in the bottom of the seventh, Kuhns handed the ball off to Arvidson, who pitched three scoreless innings to slam the door on the Bulldogs (26-9, 7-7 SEC) and record his first save of the season.
UT added a pair of insurance runs in the sixth and eighth innings on RBI doubles by Wright and Abernathy, who combined for five hits and four RBIs between them on the night.
Four Vols finished with multiple hits in the game, including a trio of three-hit performances from Trent Grindlinger, Marin and Abernathy. Tennessee pounded out 13 total hits in the win with 11 of those coming off MSU starter Duke Stone, who suffered his first loss of the year after allowing five earned runs in 5.2 innings.
UP NEXT: The Big Orange will look to complete the series sweep on Sunday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. ET on SEC Network+ and the ESPN app.
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