Tennessee Vols baseball team drop road series to Georgia Bulldogs at Foley Field

ATHENS, Ga. (WVLT) - Tennessee fell to Georgia, 9-4, in Sunday’s rubber game at Foley Field. A four-run fifth inning from the Bulldogs proved to be the difference as the Volunteers failed to lock up their first road series win this season.

Despite the results, head coach Tony Vitello thought the team had the right attitude. “This weekend we had a few quirky things happen, and some difficult things made some mistakes. The guys maintained that pushing forward approach and that’s what you got to keep in this game,” Vitello said. “This game will not go your way sometimes, you could be Trout, you could be whoever you want. It’s not going to go your way sometimes.”

Jared Dickey and Maui Ahuna both had multi-hit days for UT. Dickey reached base in all five of his plate appearances and finished with three hits and an RBI.

Cal Stark went 1-for-2 with a two-run homer to lead the offense.

Freshman right-hander AJ Russell saw his most extensive action this season, tossing a career-high 3.1 innings, allowing just one run on three hits while striking out five in relief. Drew Beam struggled in 4.1 innings and was given the loss, falling to 6-3 on the year.

Christian Moore got the Vols on the board in the third, but UGA got that run right back on a solo home run by Charlie Condon to lead off the bottom of the inning. UT put up a three-spot in the fourth to tie the game at four. Stark blasted a two-run homer to cut the lead to one and Ahuna followed with a double before scoring on an RBI single by Dickey.

The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Dawgs capitalized on some fielding miscues and hit two homers in the inning to plate four runs and retake the lead. Georgia (27-21, 10-14 SEC) added one more insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to take a 9-4 lead before Leighton Finley closed the game out in the ninth.

Vitello added that they to maintain the right mindset. “Just trying to kind of get the job done, that’s been the theme that the guys have attached themselves to the last few weeks where we’ve played a lot better baseball,” he said.

The Lady Vols softball coach Karen Weekly said the exact opposite about her team as the Lady Vols lost their regular season finale to South Carolina.

Previous Coverage: Lady Vols lose regular-season finale to South Carolina

The Vols return to Knoxville for its final five home games of the regular season, starting with a midweek contest against Austin Peay on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. Then they welcome in the Wildcats beginning Friday for a three-game series.