Hunter Ensley hit a two-RBI double in the fifth inning to put No. 2 Tennessee ahead and the Vols held off No. 7 Florida, 5-3 in its SEC opener at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday.

Tennessee’s pitching was shaky at times, but Nate Snead closed it out with 3.2 scoreless innings for the save.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Dean Curley was 2-of-4 at the plate while Ensley, Jay Abernathy and Gavin Kilen combined for four RBIs.

Here’s how it happened.

Tennessee was unable to payoff runners on the corners in the first, but Jay Abernathy made the most of one in the second.

The freshman left-fielder singled to center field and scored Manny Marin from third to give the Vols a 1-0 lead.

Florida was in position to return the favor in the top of the third, getting two on off of a hit and walk to put some pressure of Liam Doyle, who hasn't faced a lot of it this season.

Doyle shook it off, instead striking out Bobby Boser looking to strand runners on first and second and keep the Gators off of the board.

Florida didn't waste an opportunity in the fourth, though. Blake Cyr homered to left field--the first Doyle had given up this season--and the Gators drew even at 1-1.

They threatened to add more, getting runners on by way of a hit-by-pitch and a Brody Donay grounder to short that got away from Dean Curley for an infield single.

Hayden Yost stepped up to the plate with one out, this time going up against Tanner Franklin who replaced Doyle out of the bullpen.

Yost grounded out to Gavin Kilen at second. Kilen gunned the ball to Andrew Fischer where Yost was one step behind and Tennessee was out of the inning without further damage.

Holding Florida to the one run loomed large in the bottom fifth. Abnernathy led off the frame with a walk, Curley singled to left and Kilen singled to right-center to load the bases.

Hunter Ensley hit pay-dirt with a double into the corner in right, scoring Abernathy and Curley to put the Vols in front again, 3-1 with no outs. Tennessee pushed another across on a wild pitch before the inning ended.

The Gators answered in the sixth as the Vols' uncharacteristic pitching woes continued with a Donay two-RBI single up the middle to score two and trim Tennessee's lead to 4-3.

Florida loaded the bases for the second time in the frame with just one out, but Landon Stripling grounded out to Kilen and base-runner interference kept the Gators from scoring a game-tying run.

The Vols got one back in the bottom half on a Kilen fly-out to left that scored Curley.

Neither team scored in the seventh or eighth as Nate Snead, who entered in the sixth, held off the Gators’ lineup.

Snead gave up a hit in the bottom of the ninth, but struck out the tying run in Boser to give Tennessee a series-opening victory.

Tennessee will go for its first SEC series win in Game 2 on Saturday.

Marcus Phillips (1-0) will get the start for Tennessee. Aiden King is slated as the starter for Florida.

First pitch is slated for 3:30 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– SUBSCRIBE TO THE VOLREPORT YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @ByNoahTaylor, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media.