Courtesy / UT Athletics

ARLINGTON, Texas – Behind a dominant pitching performance and a balanced offensive showing, No. 5/9 Tennessee opened the 2024 season with a 6-2 victory over No. 18/21 Texas Tech in the Shriners Children’s College Classic on Friday night at Globe Life Field.

The duo of AJ Russell and AJ Causey stole to show with a pair of stellar outings on the mound, pitching all nine innings while combining for 17 strikeouts. The AJ’s allowed just two runs on five hits and one walk against a dangerous Red Raiders’ lineup.  

Russell got the starting nod and was nearly unhittable for the first four innings, allowing just one hit while racking up a career-high 10 strikeouts in that span. The first eight outs Russell recorded in the game were via strikeout.
Causey came on in relief of Russell with one out and two runners on in the fifth, and after giving up a two-run single, was able to strand the tying run at third to end the inning and preserve the Vols’ lead. The Jacksonville State transfer allowed just one hit and faced the minimum over the final four innings while racking up seven strikeouts in his 4.2 innings of work to pick up his first win as a Vol.

Billy Amick and Christian Moore powered the offense with two hits apiece, including a two-run homer by Amick that opened the scoring in the fourth inning. Hunter Ensley and Bradke Lohry also drove in runs for UT on the night while Kavares Tears scored a pair of runs.

Texas Tech struck for their only runs of the game in the bottom of the fifth when TJ Pompey tripled to right center with two outs to plate a pair of runs, however, the Red Raiders had just one runner reach base for the rest of the game.
Starting pitcher Kyle Robinson suffered the loss after giving up three runs on four hits in 3.2 innings. Owen Washburn led TTU offensively with two hits and a run scored.

UP NEXT: The Vols are back in action tomorrow night when they take on Oklahoma at 8 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed live on FloBaseball and feature a live audio stream on UTSports.com and the Tennessee Athletics App.

DID YOU KNOW?: Six players made their UT debuts on the night in Causey, Amick, Bradke Lohry, Cannon Peebles, Dalton Bargo and Robin Villeneuve. Amick, Peebles and Vileneuve all recorded base hits while Causey was the winning pitcher.

STAT OF THE GAME: Of the 27 outs recorded by Russell and Causey, 17 came via strikeout, including a career-high 10 punchouts by Russell.