KNOXVILLE (Interstat) — Nic Abraham pitched 5 2/3 innings of one-run ball and five Tennessee Volunteers homered as they routed the Belmont Bruins 11-1 on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Abraham allowed four hits and one earned run while striking out four to earn the win. The right-hander returned to form after a brief relief outing May 5 against Presbyterian in which he gave up one run over two innings, and a scoreless inning May 1 at Kentucky.

Levi Clark opened the scoring for Tennessee with a two-run homer in the second inning, driving in Trent Grindlinger who had drawn a leadoff walk. That gave the Volunteers a 2-0 lead.

Belmont answered in the fourth. Charlie Davi singled through the left side, advanced to second on a groundout, then to third on a single by Brady Holbro. Cavan McMean lifted a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Davi to cut the deficit to 2-1. Holbro stole second but was stranded.

The game remained 2-1 until the fifth, when Tennessee broke it open with three solo home runs. Jay Abernathy led off with a homer to right. Garrett Wright followed with a homer to left. After a strikeout, Ford H. crushed a homer to left, making it 5-1. That chased Belmont starter Cole Kenyon, who allowed two earned runs in 2 2/3 innings. Grindlinger then singled but was caught stealing to end the inning.

Tennessee added six more runs in the eighth, aided by two Belmont errors. Grindlinger led off with a homer to left. Chapman R. reached on a fielding error by the second baseman. Clark doubled to right center, putting runners at second and third. Brown B. walked. Marin M. then singled up the middle, scoring Chapman and Clark for a 7-1 lead, with Brown advancing to third. A wild pitch moved Brown to second and Marin to third. Antigua A., pinch-hitting for Wright, grounded out to shortstop, scoring Brown and moving Marin to third. Hunter High, pinch-hitting for Grimmer B., then homered to left, driving in Marin and himself, making it 11-1.

Brady Frederick pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, allowing one hit and striking out one. Will Haas worked one-third of an inning, and Day C. recorded the final two outs. For Belmont, relievers Zane Brown, Sam Heyman, Andrew Perry and Aubrey Morai combined to allow six runs, three unearned, over the final three innings.

Belmont managed only five hits. Landon Godse doubled and Brody Langlo singled, but the Bruins could not sustain any threat against Abraham or the Tennessee bullpen. The Bruins fell to 19-33, while Tennessee improved to 35-18.

Tennessee had won two of three against Texas over the weekend, while Belmont had lost three straight to Southern Illinois entering Tuesday’s contest. The Volunteers next travel to Oklahoma City for a three-game series against Oklahoma starting Thursday. Belmont visits Indiana State for a three-game series beginning Thursday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Tennessee 7, Belmont 5. Interstat’s ELO system gave Tennessee a 91.00 percent probability to win.