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HOUSTON – No. 1/3 Tennessee opened its weekend at the Astros Foundation College Classic with its first win over a ranked foe this season, topping No. 16/NR Oklahoma State by a score of 5-2 at Daikin Park in Houston, Texas.

The Volunteers (9-0) built up a four-run lead over the first four innings thanks to four solo home runs, the first two of which came off the bat of Gavin Kilen.

UT added another run on a Dean Curley RBI groundout to make it a 5-0 game before the Cowboys added runs in the seventh and eighth innings to cut into the deficit.

Nate Snead put an end to any thought of a OSU comeback, slamming the door with a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his first save of the year.

Home Run Parade

The Big Orange entered Friday’s contest as the national leader in home runs with 21 and added four more to that total in their win against the Pokes. Kilen blasted one in the first inning and another in the third to increase his team-leading total to five.

Freshman third baseman Manny Marin led off the fourth inning with his first-career four-bagger to increase UT’s lead to three before Curley hit his fourth of the year a few batters later.

Through nine games, Tennessee has hit four-plus homers three times and has hit multiple dingers seven times.

Another Dominant Doyle Outing

Liam Doyle continued his torrid start to the year with another impressive start on the mound, striking out nine batters and allowing just three hits over 4.1 shutout innings.

The junior lefthander now has 34 strikeouts this season after entering the game as the nation’s leader in punchouts.

Other Notable Performances

In his second appearance of the season, Dylan Loy got the Vols out of a jam in the fifth and earned his first win of the year. The sophomore lefty took over for Doyle with runners on first and second and just one out in the top of the fifth and went on to strike out the next two batters to end the threat.

Tanner Franklin pitched three solid innings in relief of Loy, striking out five batters while allowing two runs before Snead pitched a scoreless ninth to end the game.

In total, UT’s pitchers combined for 16 strikeouts in the win.

Up Next

Tennessee continues its weekend at the Astros Foundation College Classic with a Saturday showdown against Rice at 12 p.m. ET. The game can be streamed on Astros.com and the Houston Astros social media channels (X, Facebook, YouTube).