No. 17 Tennessee Jumps on UK Early, Sweeps Wildcats

LEXINGTON, Ky. – For the first time in more than a full calendar year, the No. 20 Kentucky Wildcats were swept in a three-game Southeastern Conference series on Sunday afternoon, dropping a 9-4 decision to the No. 17 Tennessee Volunteers at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington. 

UK will play on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. ET in John Cropp Stadium against Marshall, who leads the nation in stolen bases. The game will be shown live on the SEC Network+, ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. The Wildcats will also play a midweek game on Wednesday night at 6 p.m. ET at Louisville before hosting No. 3/4 Florida for a weekend series over Easter weekend. 

The Volunteers put a crooked number on the board in the top of the first inning for the third time in three games, as Scarlet McSwain hit a grand slam with one out in the inning after three successive walks loaded the bases. 

Tennessee then added a run in the second and three in the third to make the deficit too hard to overcome for the Wildcat offense, which scratched across four gritty runs under extremely difficult circumstances. 

With the loss, Kentucky has lost a season-high four games in a row and falls to 24-11 overall and is now 5-7 within the Southeastern Conference. Tennessee wins its SEC-high 13th game in a row to move to 35-5 overall and 9-3 in league play. Caylan Arnold earned her 15th win of the season for UT in the circle. Larissa Spellman, who had to face some tough adversity throughout her start, picked up her second loss of the season. 

Five. Tennessee scored five runs in the first inning. 

Scarlet McSwain’s grand slam in the top of the first inning to put Tennessee up 4-0 was the key play in the game.

Breanne Ray was the key player for Kentucky, going 3-for-4 with two singles, a double and driving in all four of Kentucky’s runs in the game. 

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