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Gavin Kilen returns for Tennessee Baseball on Saturday at South Carolina

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•03/29/25•

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Tennessee second baseman Gavin Kilen. Credit: UT Athletics
Tennessee second baseman Gavin Kilen. Credit: UT Athletics

Tennessee baseball star second baseman Gavin Kilen made his return back to the field Saturday afternoon during the second for a three-game series on the road at South Carolina’s Founders Park.

Kilen came on as a pinch hitter in the top of the eighth, in place of designated hitter Levi Clark. It was his first game action since injuring his hamstring on Tuesday, March 18, causing him to miss the past five games

The at-bat ended with a groundout to shortstop as he swung at the first pitch he saw.

“Gavin is better. Making progress, for sure,” Tony Vitello said after Tuesday’s game. “He’s been able to swing a little bit. We’ll probably go slower than he wants on that, but, you know, we’ll see. There’s a good chance he could at least do something this weekend.”

The infielder was ruled out of each game last weekended in the series-win at Alabama after initially being listed as questionable on Wednesday. The junior took some contact late in Tuesday’s midweek loss to East Tennessee State and was seen limping after the game a week ago.

Vitello confirmed during the in-game broadcast Thursday night on ESPNU (vs. Alabama) that Kilen is dealing with a hamstring injury and that he was considered day-to-day. He gave another update on Saturday following the series-win on the road.

“I think it’s slowly getting better, but it’s probably at least an eight, nine, 10-day thing,” the coach said postgame on Sunday. “So, as I mentioned, we’ll first look at the ability to maybe pinch hit and then maybe just hit. Maybe defend after that. And then base running will be last. He’ll probably be asked to chill a little bit there. So, daily progress, but probably not playing on Tuesday.”

Kilen led Tennessee in average (.431), hits (31), home runs (10, RBI (25), runs (32) and slugging percentage (.986) at the time of his injury. Starting third baseman, freshman Manny Marin, shifted to the keystone this past weekend while Dalton Bargo got the start in the hot corner in game one at Alabama. Dean Curley slid down to play third base in the final two games. Freshman Chris Newstrom started at second base on Tuesday against Queens.

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