Looking Ahead To Tennessee’s Weekend Series Vs. Vanderbilt

Image: Tennessee Athletics

By Garrett Armbrust

Tell me if this has been said before, but the Vols are in must-win mode this weekend.

After losing 4 of the last 5 series including a series loss this past weekend, a top eight national seed looks improbable.

Now being able to just host a regional at LNS stadium is up in the air.

This past weekend Tennessee (38-11, 14-10 SEC) had another rough series at the plate only scoring seven runs all weekend.

The weather was the story of game one as the Vols wasted Liam Doyle who pitched one inning before the game was postponed until Saturday.

UT went on to lose 6-1. Saturday the Vols had a much more competitive game after a solid outing from Marcus Phillips, before the game was again delayed until Sunday.

Doyle was able to come in on Sunday in a relief role to help guide Tennessee to a 5-4 eleven inning victory after a Chris Newstrom walkoff single.

Unfortunately game three was another blowout 8-1 loss where the bats and pitching were nonexistent.

UT’s opponent this week Vanderbilt (34-15, 14-10 SEC), had a productive weekend in Nashville as they took two of three from the Tide. After run ruling Alabama on Friday 12-2 Vandy lost Saturday 5-2.

Sunday Vanderbilt found themselves down by five in the eighth inning but rallied back to score seven runs in the last six outs to win 9-7.

This Friday night, Liam Doyle will be back on the bump with his 2.23 ERA, 7-1 record, and 110Ks.

Doyle received a two-game suspension for his role in the scrum at home plate against Auburn last weekend but won’t affect his start this weekend.

The Commodores will most likely send out JD Thompson who has a 3.95 ERA, 4-4 record, and 88Ks on the season. Thompson has been Vandy’s game one starter every series in SEC play.

Saturday, the Vols will turn back to Marcus Phillips with a 2.87 ERA, 3-3 record, and 72Ks on the season. Vanderbilt’s projected starter will be Cody Bowker who has a 4.50 ERA, 2-4 record, and 73Ks.

Bowker has been off on his game lately giving up fifteen earned runs in his last four starts. This is a game where the Vols need to get some runners on base early to create runs.

Saturday will also be an “orange out” so Vol fans are encouraged to wear orange to the park.

Sunday afternoon, it would be expected AJ Russell will be the starter with Tegan Kuhns probably being used a good amount as well. Russell has a 4.82 ERA, 0-1 record, and 12Ks on very limited innings this year.

Connor Fennell will be the projected starter for Vandy. They’ve used various Sunday guys this year, but he’s gotten four Sunday starts in a row now. Sunday will be an important day for the Vols as this game will probably come down to a rubber match.

Game three pitching for the Vols will have to be flat out better this week for a chance to win the series.

Tennessee bats did get active again in the Tuesday night midweek this week in which the Vols scored 12 runs. The Vols need to see players like Dean Curley, Andrew Fischer, Reese Chapman, and more breakout of their slumps to get hits and start rallies.

Every Tennessee fan knows when this lineup is hot it’s the most fun batting order America, especially if the ball’s flying out of LNS.

Some names the Vols pitching will need to keep an eye on include Riley Nelson who bats .361, Jacob Humphrey who bats .314, and freshman Brodie Johnston who bats .276 while leading the team in RBIs with 47 and HRs with 10.

While the Vanderbilt lineup doesn’t have a ton of guys that have immense power, they find ways to get on base.

The Dores also have some really good bullpen arms like Austin Nye, Luke Guth, and Sawyer Hawks. All three of those pitchers have sub 2.10 ERAs with over twelve appearances.

Overall, it’s another important series in Knoxville, and it’s a must win over an in-state rival for any chance at all of a top eight national seed. Plus it’s still very important to remain a regional host.

The Vols have broken out of slumps before with Tony V and bad baseball can’t be played forever.

Let’s hope this weekend is the turnaround we’re all looking for.