KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Defending national champion and second-ranked Tennessee defeated the Bellarmine University baseball team 13-3 on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Freshman Landon Akers led off the game with a bang for Bellarmine (9-27), cranking his fifth home run of the season. Akers collected two of the Knights' five hits against the Volunteers (32-5).

Tennessee homered three times in the contest. A three-run shot by Andrew Fischer highlighted a six-run second inning by the Vols.

Bellarmine hung in with Tennessee into the latter stage of the contest, trailing 8-3 after the top of the seventh. However, in the bottom half, the Vols had back-to-back homers — a three-run blast by Dalton Bargo and a solo shot by Chris Newstrom — to pull away for good.

In the third, junior Joey Milto singled, stole third and scored on a throwing error for Bellarmine. Freshman Christian Kiper added an RBI single in the seventh.

Senior right-hander Arren Hash tossed 1.1 scoreless innings of relief, and junior right-hander Cole McMichael notched a scoreless frame as well.

Bellarmine will play Thursday-Saturday in an Atlantic Sun Conference series at North Alabama, with first pitches scheduled for 3 p.m. (ET), 3 p.m. and 2 p.m.

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