KNOXVILLE, Tenn--Carter Holton's terrific outing and Vanderbilt's standout defense shut down Tennessee for much of Friday night but fell one strike short as the Volunteers tied it up with two ninth-inning home runs and walked it off in the 12th.

Friday night served as a bounce-back opportunity for Vanderbilt after its blowout loss to Indiana State on Tuesday night, but the Commodores ultimately fell to its in-state rivals by a score of 4-3 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Holton got through the first inning unscathed despite a few hard-hit fly balls but surrendered a two-strike homer to Zane Denton in the bottom half of the inning.

Vanderbilt failed to score in ground-ball heavy first and second innings but struck in the third when an RBI single by Schreck plated Matthew Polk and Jonathan Vastine to give the Commodores the lead. Polk recorded Vanderbilt’s first hit of the night on a single through the left side and Vastine advanced him to third with a single to center field.

Holton along with Vanderbilt’s prolific defense kept Tennessee’s bats quiet. The fourth inning in particular stood out for the Commodores. To secure the second out of the inning, Parker Noland made a catch through contact from Christian Moore.

Later in the inning, Kavares Tears ripped a liner up the middle that Davis Diaz made a diving stop on and flipped it to Jonathan Vastine who fired it to Parker Noland to get Tears out at first.

Vanderbilt scored again in the fifth after a leadoff double by Matthew Polk, Polk was driven in by a ground ball by Enrique Bradfield Jr.

Bradfield Jr. added to Vanderbilt’s prolific defense in the sixth with a diving catch on a fly ball by Hunter Ensley that gave Vanderbilt its first out of the inning.

Vanderbilt and Holton got out of that inning unscathed and was replaced by Ryan Ginther in the seventh.

Holton surrendered just one run, two hits and two walks while punching out six batters in six innings of work. Denton’s second-inning homer was the only damage Holton finished with. Friday night was a refreshing return to form for Holton, who recorded just two outs last weekend.

An RJ Austin error in the eighth gave Lindsey Nelson Stadium some life, but Nick Maldonado composed himself after a meeting with Mike Baxter and retired the final two batters of the inning without allowing a runner to reach scoring position.

Kavares Tears made things really, really interesting in the ninth with a leadoff homer to dead center that cut Vanderbilt's lead to one.

Maldonado picked up two strikeouts but gave up a two-out homer to Dylan Dreiling that tied things at three. Maldonado got Griffin Merritt to ground out to Jonathan Vastine to send it to extras.

Vanderbilt went down quietly and Jared Dickey led off the 10th inning with a leadoff double, but Maldonado escaped the inning and kept Vanderbilt alive as it went into the 11th.

Noland led off the 11th with a line drive to the right field corner but was thrown out at second, Calvin Hewett and Vastine then struck out and Vanderbilt went down quietly.

Maldonado went back out for the 11th and shut Tennessee down as his pitch count got up to 57.

Vanderbilt went down quietly in the 12th after a groundout and two strikeouts.

Merritt walked this one off and Tennessee took the first game of the series.