Tennessee Plans To Throw The ‘Kitchen Sink’ Against Alabama

Image: USA Today

By Cody McClure

Who will be on the mound tomorrow morning when Tennessee takes on Alabama at the SEC Tournament in Hoover?

Potentially a lot of different arms, according to Vols head coach Tony Vitello.

UT found out its opponent would be Alabama this afternoon when the Crimson Tide downed Missouri 4-1.

It will be an 8 vs. 9 matchup, seed-wise, with the winner advancing to play No. 1 seed Texas.

One report after the Alabama game today suggested the Tide would not be throwing their ace against Tennessee.

So who do the Vols plan to trot out?

Vitello said, per Rocky Top Insider’s Ryan Schumpert, that Marcus Phillips, AJ Russell, Nate Sneed, and Tanner Franklin are all rested. He also mentioned the names Dylan Loy, Brandon Arvidson, and Brayden Krenzel.

“All those guys will be available and we’ll kind of try and throw the kitchen sink at them. In what order, we haven’t discussed. We haven’t been together,” Vitello said. “Part of us did one workout, part of us did another, and since then, the Alabama game has ended. So now that we know who we’re playing, we’ll just kind of pow wow together and try and decide what order ideally we’d go in.”

Odds are, Phillips will be the starter, Vitello added. He said the team is looking to win and that will be the pursuit they’re on.

“But we’re also not looking to go crazy with pitch counts, in particular with the guys that are on short rest.”

Tennessee and Alabama play at 10:30 a.m. ET tomorrow on SEC Network.