Jeff Lockwood sat in the dugout, arms crossed and obviously frustrated.

He was trying to figure out if somebody has a vendetta against the Tennessee baseball team.

“It’s almost like we’re being punished or something,” the sophomore first baseman said.

Those are the emotions that come out after an eighth consecutive loss.

A familiar pattern held true again as No. 22-ranked Kentucky took a series-clinching 5-2 victory Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

“I don’t have any answers honestly,” Lockwood said after going 2-for-4. “I have no explanation.

“We’re getting good pitching, but we’re just not getting timely hits and putting anything together.”

The Vols (25-26, 11-15 SEC) still haven’t been mathematically eliminated from SEC tournament contention, but it would take a dramatic turnaround to land in Hoover, Ala., May 21-25.

“We just can’t catch a break right now,” UT first-year coach Todd Raleigh said.

UT ace Bryan Morgado came out firing his usual 93-mile-per-hour missiles, but he was throwing a lot of them.

Through the first five innings, he had struck out nine Wildcats to reach 100 for the season. Only James Adkins has struck out more batters in a season as a freshman for the Vols.

“When Bryan is on early, he has really good stuff,” Raleigh said. “I know he had 38 pitches through two innings with five strikeouts. That’s too many pitches.”

Kentucky coach John Cohen just told his team to be patient.

“We’re trying to get him to that 100 pitch count by the fifth inning,” he said. “In the sixth, he got to 121 pitches and there’s no way he can keep throwing 92, 93 with that great breaking ball.

“But he was spectacular early. When he has his command, he’s one of the best in this league.”

Morgado (5-4) was feeling the same kind of frustration as Lockwood after giving up four runs on six hits in six innings.

It was the fourth time this season the Vols had scored fewer than three runs in support of Morgado on the mound.

“I did get up in the pitch count, but I felt fine out there and had my stuff today,” he said. “We just didn’t make the plays we needed to and didn’t hit.

“Things just aren’t going our way right now and it’s sad.”

The first proof of that came in the first inning when UT’s Kentrail Davis was gunned out at the plate on a close play.

Kentucky (37-14, 13-13) manufactured a run in the fourth and finally started getting to Morgado in the sixth.

The Wildcats scored three runs on three hits, including a two-run homer by third baseman Chris McClendon.

Tyler Howe added a solo homer off UT reliever Joey Rosas in the top of the ninth to make it 5-0.

Tennessee’s only offensive pop came in the bottom of the ninth when junior third baseman Cody Brown and Lockwood went back-to-back with solo home runs.

The series finale — and Senior Day — is today at 2 p.m. in the Vols’ final home game of the season.

“It’s technically still not over,” Raleigh said. “We could beat them tomorrow, they get swept next weekend (against Ole Miss in Lexington) and we win two (at South Carolina), and we’re in front of them.”

Hope remains, but it’s down to its last gasp for the Vols.

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© 2008, Knoxville News Sentinel Co.