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Nick Hernandez tried to shrug off the disappointment.

He had just pitched the game of his collegiate career and could only watch as Tennessee let it slip away in a 4-1 loss at home to Morehead State.

"That happens sometimes in baseball," the UT sophomore said. "The ball's round, comes in a square box, and on any given day anybody can go out there and win.

"With my performance today, you obviously expect to win, but that happens."

Hernandez struggled with his control at times as a freshman, but that wasn't an issue against the Eagles on a cold Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The left-hander took a 1-0 lead and a three-hit shutout into the eighth inning against the Eagles. He struck out four and didn't walk a batter until there was one out in the eighth.

"It's disappointing because we got such a great pitching performance from Nick," first-year UT coach Todd Raleigh said after the Vols' slipped to 1-1. "There are a lot of different ways to lose games, but when you pitch like that, at home, you have to think you're going to win."

Morehead State (1-1) had other plans.

With Hernandez's pitch count at 100, Raleigh went to the bullpen and brought in Aaron Everett.

The junior from Loudon struck out the first batter he faced, but an ensuing mental lapse on defense cost the Vols.

Morehead State's J.D. Ashbrook hit a grounder to junior shortstop Danny Lima for what could have been the third out, but Lima didn't get to second base in time for a force.

"It should have been a routine third out," Raleigh said. "It was a routine play and we just didn't make the right decision. Then we give up an 0-2 hit after that and the next thing you know their best hitter is up and he hit it."

Drew Lee had the RBI single to make it 1-1. Then Eric Allen rocked a two-run double to right for the game-winning hit.

"We didn't play a bad game, but we didn't do anything to make it happen," Raleigh said. "I honestly felt like we played not to lose instead of to win.

"Nick played great, Cody Brown (3-for-4) played inspired and Daniel Beasley (2-for-3) did a nice job subbing for Kentrail Davis (limited with a hamstring injury). Other than that, we were kind of flat."

The Vols stranded 11 runners, including men in scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings. Their only run came in the third when Beasley beat out an infield hit to short and eventually scored on one of Morehead State's three errors.

Going into Saturday, Tennessee had a 27-1 all-time record against Morehead State.

Now the Vols will see if redshirt freshman pitcher Bryan Morgado is as good as advertised in the series finale 1 p.m. today at Lindsey Nelson.

© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.