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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- It got a little interesting in the ninth inning, but the Morehead State baseball team got it accomplished as the Eagles held on to defeat the Southeastern Conference's Tennessee Volunteers 4-2 Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

MSU improved to 28-18 in 2018 with its first victory at UT since 2015 and just its fourth-ever win against the program in orange.

"This is a big-time win for us," said head coach Mike McGuire. "We talk all the time about competing at the national level, and there's nothing like going on the road and defeating a power five opponent like Kansas, and now Tennessee."

The Eagles wasted little time in jumping on top for good. Junior shortstop Reid Leonard extended his reached-base streak to 38 games with a leadoff double and later scored on senior second baseman's Braxton Morris' single. Senior Eli Boggess plated junior left-fielder Niko Hulsizer, who had singled in the frame, with a sac fly to make it 2-0.

Boggess and Morris struck again in the third and fifth innings. Boggess cranked an RBI single to score Morris in the third, while Morris had a run-scoring ground out to score Leonard in the fifth.

MSU righty starter Garret Rogers posted his longest career outing, striking out six over 5.0 innings before giving way to lefties David Looney and Cory Conway and righty JC Hatcher. Rogers (1-1) picked up his first career Division I win.

"We jumped on them early offensively," said McGuire. "Garret Rogers gave us a great start and we got great efforts out of the bullpen."

Hatcher came in during the seventh inning with the bases loaded and coaxed a double play to only allow one run to score. Meanwhile, Conway entered in a tight spot with the bases loaded in the ninth stanza following three straight singles by the Vols to open the inning. Conway also induced a double play as a run scored and walked two, but he struck out the final batter for his third career save.

Leonard, Hulsizer and Morris, the Eagles' 1-2-3 batters, combined for six hits and scored all four runs, while Boggess added two safeties and freshman DH Bryce Hensor also had a hit.

The Eagles touched up UT starter Sean Hunley for the two early runs and made it hold up as they handed Hunley (6-1) his first loss.

Morehead State returns to OVC action on Friday as Jacksonville State visits to open a three-game series. Game time is 5 p.m. ET.