KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Despite impressive pitching performances from Landon Mack and Brandon Arvidson, No. 3/13 Tennessee suffered its first loss of the 2026 season, falling to Kent State by a score of 2-1 on Saturday in front of a record crowd of 7,001 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Mack got the start in game two of the series against the Golden Flashes and was excellent in his second outing as a Vol. The sophomore right-hander was coming off a solid performance in his Tennessee debut last Saturday against Nicholls, Mack picked up where he left off and finished with a career-high 11 strikeouts over 6.2 innings, allowing just one earned run on four hits and three walks.
Henry Ford got the ball rolling quickly in the bottom of the first inning with a 336-foot laser down the right field line to lead off the inning, giving the Big Orange an early 1-0 lead.
After four quiet innings from both sides, Kent State broke through in the top of the fifth with two runs to take the lead, capitalizing on two errors by UT’s defense.
The Tennessee offense threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but to no avail. With a runner on third and one out, Kent State southpaw reliever Nick Guidas came on to get the Golden Flashes out of a jam with a groundout and a flyout to preserve the one-run lead.
Arvidson came on in relief for Mack with two outs in the top of the seventh and kept the Vols within striking distance, allowing just two base runners over his 2.1 innings of work. The redshirt-junior looked sharp in his season debut, fanning five batters without allowing a walk.
The Vols went down in order in the bottom of the ninth as Kent State reliever Peyton Williams finished off his first-career save.
Timely hitting eluded the Big Orange on Saturday night as they finished 0-for-15 with runners on base and 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position.
UP NEXT: Tennessee will be back in Lindsey Nelson on Sunday at 1 p.m. as they try to win the series and move to 6-1 on the year.
