Tennessee decided to host Tennessee Tech at the Tennessee Smokies Stadium with wood bats a little over a year ago.

Although the Vols entered the game with a 31-1 record, they fell to the Golden Eagles 3-2, snapping a 23-game win streak with the first loss coming at the hands of Texas in Houston.

This season, Tennessee stayed at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in its battle with Tennessee Tech but the result was the same.

The Vols dropped the match 12-5 to the Golden Eagles marking their fourth consecutive defeat after getting swept at Arkansas last weekend.

While the matchup in 2022 needed late-game heroics in the form of a home run, Tennessee Tech jumped out to an early lead this year.

In the first inning, starter Zander Sechrist gave up three-straight singles to load the bases. He was promptly pulled for AJ Russell who walked in a run but stranded the remaining runners.

After Russell finished his two full innings on the mound that featured no earned runs, no hits and three strikeouts, he was replaced in the third.

Bryce Jenkins entered and loaded the bases. He then gave up a one-out double to score two runners.

Following this, he was relieved by Aaron Combs who allowed consecutive singles resulting in two additional runs.

At this point, Tennessee trailed 5-0. However, they grabbed four runs back in the following two frames off the bat of Hunter Ensley. He slugged a three-run shot in the third and a one-run single in the fourth.

Ensley finished 2-for-5 at the plate with four RBI and a run.

Although the Vols (23-14) trailed by just a run, they never were able to scratch all the way back. Instead, Tennessee Tech added two more runs in the sixth, making the Vols' lone eighth-inning run meaningless.

Despite holding a two-run lead as the game entered its final frame, the Golden Eagles (11-24) continued to pour it on.

In the ninth inning, they added another five runs to their lead. This came in the form of six hits, an error and a walk.

By the end of the game, Tennessee Tech had totaled 12 runs on 17 hits. It batted .409 in the game and .421 with runners in scoring position.

On the other end, the Vols finished with just five runs on eight hits. This came on .235 hitting at the plate.

Next, Tennessee will face Vanderbilt. The Commodores are ranked as the No. 4 team in the country according to D1Baseball.

Last season, the Vols completed the sweep over Vanderbilt in Nashville. Now, Tim Corbin and company will attempt to return to favor in Knoxville.

The first of a three game series is set for Friday at 6 p.m. ET airing on SEC Network.

*****

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

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