The Kentucky Wildcats baseball team began their biggest series of the season so far on Friday. The fifth ranked Wildcats hosted the third ranked Tennessee Volunteers over the weekend, and started the three-game set with a 5 – 3 victory.
Tennessee jumped up 2 – 0 on a second inning homerun, but Ryan Waldschmidt hit a solo shot in the third to close the gap. The Vols took a 3 – 1 lead into the seventh inning, but Kentucky scratched out three runs, two of which came via a defensive error. Leading by one, Nolan McCarthy sealed it with a solo homer in the eight.
Waldschmidt went 2-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs. McCarthy also had two hits and drove in a run.
Trey Pooser took the hill for Kentucky and had a solid start, surrendering just three runs in six innings. The bullpen didn’t give up a single hit over the final three innings.
The Wildcats and Vols play the second game of the series on Saturday. It’s on SEC Network+ and will be at 2:00 PM ET.