Jaxon Jelkin turned in a dominant performance on the mound as Kentucky baseball (29-15, 11-12 SEC) rolled to a 12-2 mercy rule victory over No. 24 Tennessee (30-17, 10-13 SEC).

Jelkin continued his standout season, setting personal bests in both innings pitched and strikeouts. He punched out 11 batters and went the distance, controlling the game from start to finish.

The right-hander set the tone early, holding the Volunteers hitless through the first four innings. He recorded two strikeouts in each of the first three frames and added another in the fourth, keeping Tennessee off balance.

Tennessee broke through in the fifth inning with back-to-back doubles from Trent Grindlinger and Reese Chapman to score its first run.

Barion Brown added a solo home run in the sixth, but the late push was not enough to shift momentum.

Jelkin quickly settled back in, escaping the fifth with a strikeout and two flyouts. After Garrett Wright reached on a bunt single following Brown’s homer, Jelkin regained full control, retiring the side with a strikeout, flyout and groundout.

From there, Jelkin and the Kentucky defense remained in command, recording their fifth three-up, three-down inning of the game. He closed out strong, striking out two in the final frame and inducing a groundout to secure the win.

“Jaxon Jelkin attacked the strike zone, got in a little bit of trouble, worked his way out of it, chilled out and just kept pounding the strike zone,” head coach Nick Mingione said. “He did exactly what our team needed and to complete a game against an unbelievable, really good Tennessee team it’s exactly what we need.”

Kentucky’s offense backed him with a powerful showing, launching four home runs.

Caeden Cloud got the Wildcats on the board in the third inning with a home run to right field. Tyler Bell followed after Jayce Tharnish was hit by a pitch, sending a two-run shot to left.

Hudson Brown added another homer to right-center as Kentucky built its lead.

The Wildcats broke the game open in the sixth. Braxton Van Cleave and Scott Campbell Jr. opened the inning with back-to-back doubles.

A walk to Brown and a hit-by-pitch to Cloud brought in another run. Owen Jenkins and Tharnish each reached on fielder’s choices, with Hudson scoring to extend the lead to 7-2.

Ethan Hindle added to the surge with a home run to left. Van Cleave and Campbell followed with singles before Brown was hit by a pitch again.

Cloud delivered a double that scored both Van Cleave and Campbell. A wild pitch then allowed Cloud to move to third and Brown to score, pushing the lead to 10-2.

Luke Lawrence put the finishing touches on the win. After Bell led off the inning with a double, Lawrence launched a home run to left field, sealing the mercy-rule victory for Kentucky.

“That was probably one of his best performances of the year, I’d say,” Brown said. “And it just gives us so much confidence at the plate you know, like we don’t have to score as much. And I feel like we play a lot more free and loose whenever we’re in that situation.”

With the victory, Jelkin improved to 7-2 on the season.