Tennessee

No. 4 Tennessee Baseball at No. 3 Kentucky: How To Watch, Pitching Matchups, Prediction | Rocky Top Insider

Published

2 years ago

April 19, 2024

No. 4 Tennessee Baseball at No. 3 Kentucky: How To Watch, Pitching Matchups, Prediction | Rocky Top Insider

LHP Chris Stamos (1 GS, 3-0, 3.45 ERA, 15.2 IP, 15 K, 9 BB, .96 WHIP) vs. RHP Trey Pooser (3-0, 4.11 ERA, 35 IP, 33 K, 13 BB, 1.23 WHIP)

RHP Drew Beam (9 GS, 5-1, 3.16 ERA, 51.1 IP, 45 K, 10 BB, 1.27 WHIP) vs. LHP Dominic Niman (7-2, 3.40 ERA, 53 IP, 47 K, 14 BB, 1.09 WHIP)

LHP Zander Sechrist (9 GS, 1-0, 3.34 ERA, 32.1 IP, 37 K, 6 BB, 1.14 WHIP) vs. RHP Mason Moore (7-0, 3.45 ERA, 47 IP, 43 K, 22 BB, 1.17 WHIP)

Bats To Know

Tennessee:

1B Blake Burke — .422/.483/.859, 13 HR, 33 EBH, 36 RBI, 16 BB, 21 K

2B Christian Moore — .352/.429/.754, 15 HR, 27 EBH, 36 RBI, 18 BB, 28 K

3B Billy Amick — .359/.455/.796, 12 HR, 20 EBH, 30 RBI, 16 BB, 21 K

OF Kavares Tears — .377/.493/.737, 11 HR, 19 EBH, 30 RBI, 27 BB, 25 K

LF Dylan Dreiling — .333/.461/.789, 13 HR, 25 EBH, 44 RBI, 26 BB, 30 K

Kentucky:

Nick Lopez — .403/.459/.636, 4 HR, 20 EBH, 29 RBI, 14 BB, 10 K

Ryan Waldschmidt — .339/.500/.578, 6 HR, 14 EBH, 25 RBI, 27 BB, 20 K, 13 SB

Ryan Nicholson — .312/.432/.670, 11 HR, 17 EBH, 37 RBI, 20 BB, 26 K,

Emilien Pitre — .310/.420/.521, 5 HR, 19 EBH, 35 RBI, 26 BB, 24 K, 19 SB

Devin Burkes — .235/.369/.353, 2 HR, 10 EBH, 23 RBI, 17 BB, 10 K

Last Three Series

Tennesse:

Swept LSU in Knoxville
Won two out of three at Auburn
Won two out of three against Georgia at home

Kentucky:

Swept Auburn on the road
Swept Alabama in Tuscaloosa
Swept Ole Miss in Oxford

Prediction

Tennessee heads to Kentucky for its most highly touted series of the season to date. It’s a top five matchup that pits two teams with different styles against one another.

With Kentucky’s small ball style, Tennessee’s defense will be key this weekend. The Vols have been better there this season and this weekend will be a real test.

I think Tennessee is a slightly better team but with this series being on the road and with the ball park and weather playing to Kentucky’s advantage I’m taking the Wildcats to win the series. This one feels like a true toss up and I think all three games will be competitive.

Kentucky wins two out of three

Source link

Tennessee

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Published

3 hours ago

December 17, 2025

Press Room

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Tennessee quarterback Jake Merklinger plans to enter the transfer portal, Knox News has confirmed.

On3.com and Rivals.com were the first to report Merklinger’s decision. The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2.

Merklinger has also opted out of the Music City Bowl. No. 23 Tennessee (8-4) plays Illinois (8-4) on Dec. 30 (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Nashville. Starter Joey Aguilar will play in the bowl game, so Merklinger was not expected to be a factor. Freshman George MacIntyre will serve as the backup.

Merklinger spent two seasons at Tennessee but barely played and failed to win the starting job. He played six games and went 19-of-33 passing for 221 yards and two touchdowns.

In 2024, Merklinger was a third-string freshman when Nico Iamaleava started. In 2025, he competed for the starting job but lost to transfer Joey Aguilar.

By the end of the 2025 season, Merklinger was neck and neck with freshman George MacIntyre for the backup job. And it didn’t appear that Merklinger would factor in the starting job in 2026.

Merklinger, a native of Savannah, Georgia, was a four-star recruit in the 2024 class. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.

Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.

Source link

Tennessee

Seedy K’s GameCap: Tennessee

Published

15 hours ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

When you have two legitimate Top 20 teams testing each other, it’s never inevitable.

But this U of L task in Knoxville against tall favorite Tennessee sure seemed close to that heading in.

Well coached top level foe at its sold out home.

One whose strength — inside scoring and rebounding — made it a bad matchup for the Cards, whose lack of inside depth and strength has been an Achilles heel from the get go.

That the Vols were hungry and angry coming off three straight Ls made a U of L victory seem an almost impossible task.

Then we learned that back issue of Mikel Brown’s is a problem.

Cards were toast before tip.

It was all evident by halftime — actually well before then.

It just takes a peek at a couple statistics.

Tennessee led by only 7, thanks to some tough Cardinal D. And UT’s woeful FT shooting.

That inside game issue: Volunteers 28 points in the paint. Cardinals 10.

That’s right, Tennessee had more points in the paint at the break than Louisville had points total.

That lack of point guard issue: U of L had 9 FGs at intermission. Tennessee had that many assists on 15 buckets.

Louisville’s strength is depth. At least usually.

During the first 20 Tuesday, the Cards had zero points off the pine. Vols 22. (For the game, the disparity was 34-3. Khani Rooths hit a FT. Wild Man Zougris a garbage time slam.)

Another opening stanza reality that might have you feeling the need to clean your glasses.

Only three guys scored. Adrian Wooley with 12, Ryan Conwell with 11, and Sananda Fru with 4.

Louisville’s second half performance is not worth the bandwidth, my time to write about, nor your time to read.

The final, in a lopsided disappointing loss: 83-62.

There is no sugar frosting this. Against teams with major size and inside presence, Louisville has and will continue to struggle.

When your most talented player doesn’t suit up, it makes it more impossible to overcome.

Source link

Tennessee

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

Published

1 day ago

December 16, 2025

Press Room

A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee

Enter your email and we’ll send a secure one-click link to sign in.

WKRN is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.

Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.

WKRN is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.

Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is a leading, diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports, and entertainment content across its television and digital platforms. The My Nexstar sign-in works across the Nexstar network—including The CW, NewsNation, The Hill, and more. Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.

Source link