Chapman’s Big Day Not Enough As Vols Drop Finale To #4 Texas

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Tennessee’s streak of four-straight series finale victories was snapped on Sunday in a 13-6 loss to No. 3/4 Texas at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Despite an inspiring effort from Reese Chapman on Senior Day, the Volunteers (34-18, 13-14 SEC) struggled on the mound and were unable to slow down the Longhorns at the plate. 

Chapman finished the day with two home runs, including a first-inning grand slam, while tying his career high with six RBIs. 

The Longhorns (37-12, 16-10 SEC) jumped out to another early lead on Sunday with a four-spot off of freshman left-hander Taylor Tracey in the top of the first inning. All four runs came with two outs as Adrian Rodriguez got the scoring started with a three-run shot into the UT bullpen before Casey Borba followed with a solo homer into the porches to give Texas a quick 4-0 advantage. 

For the second straight game after falling behind in the top of the first, the Big Orange punched back with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame. After Blake Grimmer, Henry Ford and Levi Clark all reached to load the bases, Chapman sent a 106-mph laser over the right field wall for his fourth career grand slam, tying the game at four apiece.

Anthony Pack Jr. put Texas back in front in the top of the third inning with a solo home run that hit off the top of the videoboard in right field. Borba added another run on a sacrifice fly to center field to give the Horns a two-run lead.

Texas tacked on another run in the fifth on a fielder’s choice groundball to the shortstop before blowing the game open with five runs in the sixth inning. Borba hit his second home run of the day, a grand slam into the porches, to give the Longhorns a 12-4 lead.

Chapman cut into the deficit in the bottom of the sixth with his second round tripper of the day. After a long battle with Texas reliever Thomas Burns, the sweet-swinging lefty launched a two-run, no-doubt shot into the parking lot beyond the right field wall on the 12th pitch of the at-bat to make it a 12-6 game.

That would prove to be the final runs of the game for Tennessee, however, as Longhorns’ reliever Haiden Leffew gave up just one hit over three scoreless innings to pick up his fourth victory of the season.

The freshman duo of Chandler Day and Will Haas provided the Vols with some solid relief outings early in the game, but a combined 10 walks from the UT pitching staff proved to be too much to overcome in its attempt to finish off a series sweep. 

UP NEXT: Tennessee hosts Belmont in its final regular-season home game on Tuesday at 5 p.m. before closing out the regular season with a trip to Oklahoma City for a series against the Sooners that will start on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. ET.