Tennessee scored 12 runs spanning the second and third innings on Thursday night in Knoxville, erasing an early Kentucky lead on its way to a lopsided victory in the series opener between the SEC rivals.

The No. 4 Volunteers chased UK ace Cole Stupp in the second inning with a barage of extra-base hits that helped pave the way to a 14-4 win. Jordan Beck and Jackson Greer each homered in the decisive second inning for Tennessee (33-10, 13-6 SEC).

Kentucky (25-14, 9-10 SEC) had built a 3-0 lead on home runs by T.J. Collett and Jacob Plastiak in the first and second innings, respectively, but it quickly vanished.

The first three pitchers that UK head coach Nick Mingione sent to the mound surrendered 14 runs (11 earned) on 10 hits, four walks, three hit batsmen, and a runner that reached base safely after being struck out on a wild pitch. The Cats also hurt themselves with a pair of errors.

Stupp (4-4) had his worst outing of the season, allowing seven runs in only 1.1 innings of work.

Chad Dallas (7-1) earned the win for the Vols. The right-handed starter allowed two early home runs but gave up only six hits over six innings on the mound. He struck out seven and walked two.

Five UT hitters had multi-hit games, led by Pete Derkay with three. In addition to the blasts by Beck and Greer, Luc Lipsius added a third home run for the Vols.

Collett bashed his 15th home run of the season for the Cats.

Kentucky dropped to 1-5 against Top 10 teams this season.

The series resumes Friday at 6:30 p.m. ET. The game will be broadcast by SEC Network Plus.