Tennessee Looks to Bounce Back as No. 1 UCLA Awaits in Arlington
Image: Elliot Walker/Tennessee Athletics
By Aidan Sidoti
ARLINGTON – No. 20 Tennessee is set to play in Arlington this weekend with vengeance on its mind. After dropping its first non‑conference series since 2020, the Vols open the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series on Friday against top‑ranked UCLA at Globe Life Field, the first of three games in Texas that also includes matchups with Arizona State and Virginia Tech.
Tennessee enters the weekend at 6-2, but the record isn’t telling the full story. The Vols let a winnable series slip away against Kent State, taking Friday’s opener 4-3 on a Tyler Myatt pinch-hit walk-off homer before falling 2-1 on Saturday and 9-5 on Sunday. The defining theme of that weekend was hit-by-pitches. Tennessee pitchers plunked six Golden Flashes on Friday, tying a program record, and added four more on Sunday, repeatedly giving Kent State free baserunners in tight spots.
The Vols will hand the ball to sophomore right‑hander Tegan Kuhns, who has been outstanding through two starts despite the HBPs. The Gettysburg (PA) native holds a 0.73 ERA and has looked every bit like Tennessee’s early‑season ace. On Opening Day against Nicholls, Kuhns delivered 6.2 scoreless innings with eight strikeouts and just two hits allowed, earning a standing ovation as he walked off the mound. He followed that with 5.2 innings of one‑hit baseball against Kent State, striking out eight and allowing just one earned run.
Offensively, Tennessee needs to reset mentally. The bats went cold at Lindsey Nelson Stadium last weekend. Levi Clark managed just one hit across the series, Blaine Brown didn’t record a hit at all, and the Vols went 0‑for‑15 with runners on base in Saturday’s loss. Josh Elander’s group will look to take advantage of the bigger ballpark to find some new rhythm.
UCLA will counter with Logan Reddemann, a San Diego transfer who is the Bruins most reliable arm. The 6‑foot‑2 junior is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA and is coming off a dominant outing against No. 18 TCU, where he struck out 10 over five innings while allowing just one run and one walk. Reddemann’s fastball sits in the low‑to‑mid 90s, but his best weapon is a low‑80s slider that posted a 40 percent whiff rate last season, a pitch the Tennessee right-handers will need to identify early.
The Vols will also need to navigate one of the most dangerous duos in college baseball through the 2026 season so far. UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky, MLB.com’s No. 1 overall draft prospect, enters the weekend tied for the Division I home run lead with six. Right beside him is Texas transfer Will Gasparino, a 6-foot-6 outfielder who also has six homers and was named Perfect Game’s National Player of the Week after hitting .538 with five home runs and 13 RBI in four games.
A Tennessee win over No. 1 UCLA would do wonders for this team to help build momentum against two above average opponents on Saturday and Sunday.
First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. ET on FloSports with a subscription required to watch.
