Looking Ahead To Tennessee’s Weekend Series Vs. Auburn
Image: Tennessee Athletics
By Garrett Armbrust
The Vols are back in Knoxville this weekend to welcome the Auburn Tigers.
The Tigers 31-14 (11-10 SEC) are coming off a series win on the Plains against Mississippi State while the Vols lost two of three to LSU.
Tennessee wasted a Friday night gem from Liam Doyle as he went 6.2 IP giving up zero runs and only one hit.
Unfortunately, things spiraled out of control in the bottom of the ninth inning. They gave up two errors and then a three-run walk off shot from Jared Jones to lose 6-3.
Tennessee did have a dominating effort game two after a great outing from Marcus Phillips which led them to a 9-3 victory. With the series tied that brought another Sunday afternoon rubber match.
The Vols pitching though got shelled, after AJ Russell started and Tegan Kuhns came in and didn’t have his stuff. Things got progressively uglier as UT got run ruled 12-2 to drop their third series in the last month.
Tennessee did get a nice midweek win over a solid Northern Kentucky squad. The Vols now sit at 36-9 (13-8) in SEC play. If the Vols want to get back into the conversations of hosting postseason ball through the supers winning the series this weekend will be imperative.
Looking ahead to this weekend, Liam Doyle will be back on the mound for game one. Doyle now has a 2.23 ERA, 7-1 record, and 110Ks on the season.
Samuel Dutton will be Auburn’s projected game one starter. Dutton comes into the series with a 2.48 ERA, 5-2 record, and 73Ks.
Dutton has been the Tigers Friday night ace all season and has only given up two earned runs over his last three starts.
Saturday night Marcus Phillips will take the field coming off one of his best starts of the season. Phillips sits at a 2.77 ERA, 3-3 record, and 68Ks this spring.
Florida transfer Cade Fisher will be the projected Tigers starter. Fisher has started game two of every SEC series this season and has a 5.76 ERA, 1-2 record, and 37Ks.
Fisher has been inconsistent and only made it to the fifth inning once this year. It would seem this is a matchup the Vols lineup needs to take care of early.
Finally, Sunday afternoon Tegan Kuhns or AJ Russell will be the projected starter.
Game threes have been Tennessee’s weakness the last month. With Tony V still easing AJ Russell back into the rotation after his injury, even if he does start it would more than likely only be for a few innings leading to a bullpen game.
Russell comes in with a 2.45 ERA, 0-0 record, and 9Ks while Kuhns has a 3.96 ERA, 2-2 record, and 25Ks.
Sundays Auburn has also had a mix of starters. Last weekend Cam Tilly got his first career Sunday start. He has a 4.60 ERA, 2-1 record, and 39Ks.
Freshman Andres Alvarez has also gotten some Sunday starts with a 6.97 ERA, 1-1 record, and 26Ks. It’s fair to say Auburn’s Sunday starter is up in the air and depends how fresh their bullpen looks.
As for the Tigers lineup, their most elite hitters are Cooper McMurray and Ike Irish.
Irish bats .329 with 11HRs and 37RBIs while McMurray bats .337 with 9HRs, and 40 RBIs.
Christopher Rembert and Chase Fralick are two incredible freshmen the Vols pitchers will need to be in control of as they also both bat over .320 on the season.
Auburn does have some solid bullpen arms including Parker Carlson and Carson Myers who both have ERAs under 4.00. If the Tennessee lineup can bounce out those names they will face some pitchers with some higher ERAs.
As for the Vols they will need better outings from their bullpen and less errors this series to keep runs of the board.
An interesting trend to follow is Auburn’s 4-8 record away from home this season.
Impressively they did sweep LSU at home this season. Overall, it should be a competitive series between two good clubs. Both teams will need this series win to stay in that top eight national seed conversation.