Tennessee

Texas A&M Baseball Drops Opening Game vs. Tennessee Volunteers

Published

9 months ago

April 5, 2025

Texas A&M Baseball Drops Opening Game vs. Tennessee Volunteers

Texas A&M baseball fans knew that their team was facing an uphill battle as they hit the road for a weekend series against the No. 1 Tennessee Volunteers in a rematch of the 2024 College World Series.

But Friday night’s battle was like trying to climb Mount Everest with two broken legs.

The Aggies dropped below .500 Friday night in game one of the weekend series, losing in a run rule-shortened affair to the Volunteers in Knoxville, 10-0.

Jun 22, 2024; Omaha, NE, USA; Texas A&M Aggies starting pitcher Ryan Prager (18) throws against the Tennessee Volunteers during the first inning at Charles Schwab Field Omaha. Mandatory Credit: Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images / Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

And to add salt to the wound, the Aggies were held to zero hits on the night, their only base runners coming on two walks by the Tennessee pitching.

One of those walks was to Jace LaViolette, who just so happened to break another Texas A&M baseball record, this one for most career walks for the Maroon and White, having taken his 141st career ball four Friday night.

The Volunteers began their scoring with a pair of home runs by first baseman Andrew Fischer, first a solo shot in the second inning, and then a three-run round-tripper the following inning, giving the Vols a 4-0 lead after three innings.

Tennessee third baseman Dean Curley would extend the lead with a solo home run in the fifth inning, giving the top-ranked team a 5-0 advantage leading into the sixth inning, which is where Tennessee sealed the deal on the night.

After two RBI singles by shortstop Ariel Antigua and designated hitter Dalton Bargo, center fielder Hunter Ensley put the dagger in the visiting team with a three-run home run, giving the reigning national champions a 10-0 lead.

The Aggies would go down in order in the top of the seventh, resulting in their first run-ruling of the season.

Many might believe that the team used up all their offense in their most recent midweek game against Incarnate Word, where they scored an incredible 21 runs, which could easily cover two games, but it had to be known that the top-ranked team in the nation was not going to be just another game on the schedule.

Due to inclement weather scheduled to be in the Knoxville area over the weekend, the final two games of the series will be a doubleheader Saturday. Game one will be at 2:00 p.m. and game two will follow up at 6:00 p.m. Both games will be available on SEC Network.

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Tennessee

Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal

Published

11 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.

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Tennessee

Seedy K’s GameCap: Tennessee

Published

23 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.

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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

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