LEXINGTON, Ky. – Riley Mahan (pictured) continued his assault on Southeastern Conference pitching over the past two weeks, belting two home runs to lead No. 8 Kentucky to an 8-3 victory over Tennessee Saturday on Senior Day at Cliff Hagan Stadium. The Wildcats will go for a series sweep on Sunday afternoon, May 14, as they continue to hunt the SEC crown.

Mahan crushed a pair of home runs to right field, the second of which traveled 436 feet and easily cleared the deck in right-center field. With the two round-trippers Mahan now has homered in four straight league games, with five bombs total in those games. The junior infielder is 6-for-8 with a double, three home runs, five runs scored and six RBI in the two games against the Volunteers.

The Cats (35-16, 17-9 SEC) again jumped on the Vols (26-21, 7-17) early with Evan White’s two-run home run in the second inning and a four-run third that gave them a 6-1 lead. With starter Zach Logue fighting himself a bit on the mound, freshman Chris Machamer came on in relief and pitched 4.1 perfect innings to earn his first collegiate victory.

With the 35th win of the season the Cats now have the most wins in a season since the 2014 club won 37 games, and the most SEC wins (17) since the 2012 team finished the year 18-12 in conference play.

Before the game the program honored seven seniors -- LHP Colton Cleary, OF Marcus Carson, IF Connor Heady, 1B Gunnar McNeill, OF Zach Reks, LHP Logan Salow and OF Storm Wilson -- on Senior Day. The mother of each player took part in throwing out the ceremonial first pitches in recognition of Mother’s Day.

Kentucky goes for the series sweep on Sunday, with a 1 p.m. start on Mother’s Day. Fans can listen on the UK Sports Network via UKathletics.com and iHeart Radio, as well as on 630 AM WLAP, and watch on SEC Network Plus (online).

Photo by Britney Howard, UK Athletics