The Southeastern Conference regular season champion Texas Longhorns (42-12), gave it all they had on Thursday in Hoover, Alabama, but ultimately fell short to the Tennessee Volunteers (43-15) in 12 innings of the SEC Tournament Quarterfinals.
Jim Schlossnagle, hoping to identify a third starter as the team heads into regional play, gave the starting nod to lefty Ethan Walker. Walker, in his first career start, dazzled in his debut, throwing 4 1/3 innings and giving up just one hit and one earned run. He was relieved by Grayson Saunier in the 5th inning with Texas maintaining a 4-0 lead, but the Vols would add two runs after holding the bases loaded multiple times during the inning.
Thomas Burns relieved Saunier in the 6th after back-to-back one-out singles by Tennessee. Burns worked through a tumultuous inning, which included a hit batter and an RBI walk, but the Volunteers managed to tie the score up at 4-4.
The game remained scoreless until the 10th inning, when Gavin Kilen hit a solo home run off of Max Grubbs to give Tennessee a 5-4 lead. Texas answered with a run of their own, tying things up at 5-5 thanks to Kimble Schuessler’s single, which scored Rylan Galvan.
SEC Freshman of the Year and LHP Dylan Volantis entered in the 11th inning, striking out the Vols in order. Volantis walked the leadoff batter in the 12th and gave up a single to Jay Abernathy before recording his first out, which advanced the runners. Kilen delivered again for Tennessee, this time with a double to right center field, which scored two runs.
The Longhorns were retired in order in the bottom of the frame, giving Tennessee a 7-5 victory.
Texas will now wait for Selection Monday to determine who they will host in the Austin Regional. The Longhorns are almost certainly poised to hold the No. 1 or No. 2 overall seed in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
