Looking Ahead To Tennessee’s Final SEC Series At Arkansas

Image: Tennessee Athletics

By Garrett Armbrust

The Vols are once again in must win mode this week in Fayetteville against Arkansas.

Tennessee (40-13 14-12 SEC) lost another series this past weekend to Vanderbilt.

The Vols have now lost five of their last six series and have lost nine of the last eleven SEC games in which Liam Doyle hasn’t started.

UT got off to a good start winning game one but struggled to get men on base and gave up too many runs in games two and three.

Arkansas (41-11 18-9 SEC) is also coming off a series loss on the road to LSU.

They got walked off game one in similar fashion as the Vols did in Baton Rouge a few weeks ago.

The second game was a run rule blowout in favor of the Tigers, however the Hogs did come back to take game three to avoid a sweep.

This week it appears the Vols will switch up their rotation and have Marcus Phillips go game one. Phillips currently boasts a 3.41 ERA, 3-4 record, and 77Ks on the season.

Over his last few starts teams are stealing bases at a large rate and that will be something to once again keep an eye on this weekend.

Arkansas will go with Zach Root, who has a 3.88 ERA, 6-3 record, and 98Ks.

If the Vols can take game one without their ace they will be in a great spot.

In game two Tennessee will trot out Liam Doyle who is potentially the best pitcher in the nation. Doyle has a 2.17 ERA, 9-2 record, and nation leading 127Ks on the season.

The Hogs starter is set TBD and it may very well be some type of bullpen game.

Tennessee should have the advantage in game two and if they can get that game one win they’ll be in a commanding spot in the series.

Game three UT will send out Tegan Kuhns. He now brings in a 3.78 ERA, 2-2 record, and 36Ks on the season.

It will be interesting to see if AJ Russell comes out of the pen earlier in the series or if they let him relieve Kuhns for a few innings.

Gage Wood will be the Hogs game three starter. He brings in a 5.51 ERA, 1-1 record, and 30Ks.

Tennessee does seem to be in a better spot in this series matchups wise than previous series but game one will be super critical.

The Vols will contend with lots of power through the Arkansas lineup highlighted by the Aloy brothers.

Wehiwa bats .364, with 17HRs, and 54 RBIs while his brother Kuhio bats .356, with 13 HRs, and 66 RBIs.

Charles Davalan, Camden Kozeal, Ryder Helfrick, and Justin Thomas all also bat over .300 on the season with eight or more homers each.

The Razorbacks also have some dudes in their bullpen like Dylan Carter who has a 2.23 ERA, 6-0 record, and 35Ks this season.

The Vols are going to need more production from guys like Dean Curley, Reece Chapman, Cannon Peebles, and Dalton Bargo if any of these games get high scoring this weekend.

Just like previous weeks this series is very important. While a top eight national seed is no longer attainable a regional in LNS is still possible with a series win this weekend.

This team knows what’s at stake it’s just time for them to execute and get hot.