Tennessee baseball dropped its first SEC game of the season on Friday night, but responded with back-to-back wins over No. 24 Alabama to take the weekend series.
The top-ranked Vols improved to 14-1 in SEC play, but faced major drama and potential long term ramifications along the way.
Here’s the notes from Tennessee’s fifth straight SEC series win to open up the season.
Vols Respond To Weekend Adversity
Tennessee entered the weekend 31-2 and while dominant, hadn’t faced much adversity yet on the season.
That changed this weekend. The Vols followed up their second loss of the season by falling to the Crimson Tide in the series opener Friday night.
Tennessee didn’t play horribly but struggled with runners in-scoring position and made one critical defensive mistake opening the door for the Crimson Tide.
Tennessee’s players seemingly took the loss personally with Jared Dickey claiming the Vols would “punch them in the neck” on Saturday and Will Mabrey taking exception to the Crimson Tide’s postgame celebration.
The Vols had to face even more adversity before having a real chance to respond as Chase Dollander was injured (more on that in a bit) and Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson were ejected from game two.
With a riled up crowd in a response game, Tennessee immediately answered the bell, scoring two runs in the bottom half of the first inning.
Tennessee had to go the rest of the weekend without its head and pitching coach but that didn’t matter. The Vols outscored Alabama, 24-6, following the first inning ejections in game two.
We know Tennessee has an incredibly talented team but that talent has kept them from facing the normal amount of adversity that comes in baseball. This weekend the Vols faced that adversity and responded extremely well.
“I just think it shows resiliency,” Tennessee assistant coach Josh Elander said. “It’s just next guy up, find a way to get it done. It’s on our locker room wall, it says ‘get it done’ that was just the mentality from the jump. Get our work in and go out there and compete. The guys did that.”
Ortega Rakes In Two-Spot
Jorel Ortega has earned his role as Tennessee’s everyday starting second baseman this season, but in a loaded batting order his offensive prowess hasn’t shined through.
That isn’t to say Ortega has struggled, he was hitting .288 with five home runs on the season entering the weekend.
Nevertheless, Ortega was Tennessee’s best and most consistent bat throughout the weekend.
“Just staying longer to the ball,” Ortega said. “Not trying to spin off it. Just try to keep it simple. Hitting is hard enough. We have guys throwing 104 (mph) so just trying to keep it simple.”
Ortega was one of Tennessee’s few productive bats in Friday night’s series opener, reaching base three times including a solo home run.
That led to a higher spot in the batting order for Ortega. The redshirt-sophomore has hit in the two-spot this season against left-handed hitting and latter in the order — typically seven or eight holes — against right-handed pitching.
The Puerto Rico native hit in the two-spot against a right-handed pitcher on Saturday and delivered with his second consecutive two-hit game.
With LHP Grayson Hitt on the bump for Alabama Sunday Ortega stayed at the two-spot and turned in his best outing of the weekend. Ortega recorded four hits including a huge three-run home run.
The second baseman ended the weekend hitting eight-of-12 with two home runs, five RBIs and a walk.
“He just seemed like he was in a good position to hit the whole time,” Elander said. “He hit heaters, change ups, breaking balls and he’s really confident with two strikes. We do a drill in the cages during the week where I get in there and try to strike everybody out. He’s a guy who’s kind of frustrating, even as close as I am he does a good job. There’s some carry over from there but he’s just locked in.”
The Vols’ offense had a strong weekend with a number of players stepping up. None delivered as much as Ortega did.
Pitching Injuries Cloud Stacked Rotation
We mentioned Chase Dollander’s injury in the adversity section and the adversity it causes for the pitching staff is a microcosm of the adversity Tennessee faced this weekend.
Things had been breathtakingly easy for Tennessee’s weekend rotation for much of the season. It wasn’t until last weekend against Missouri that the Vols called upon their bullpen for big time outings.
Tennessee had to do it twice this weekend. First, Chase Burns struggled for the second straight start before Dollander exited game two with an injury.
Once again, Tennessee’s bullpen rose to the occasion to show this team’s pitching depth.
We are still unsure of what Dollander’s injury is, but the line drive struck him in his right arm right above his elbow and he returned to the Tennessee dugout in a sleeve.
What happens if Dollander misses time?
Tennessee has a clear option to slide into his role: sophomore Blade Tidwell.
Tidwell was a freshman All-American as a weekend starter last season but missed much of this season with a shoulder injury. Still, Tidwell likely isn’t ready to go full starter distance, having pitched two full innings just once this season.
That also changes Tennessee’s right-handed bullpen rotation and will thrust Seth Halvorsen into a bigger role when he returns from his injury.
Time will tell the extent of Dollander’s injury, but it has thrown a wrench into a Tennessee rotation that appeared flawless two weeks ago. Still, the Vols have responded well to the adversity.
Luc Lipcius Showing Real Improvement Versus LHP?
Tennessee super-senior Luc Lipcius is a really good defensive first baseman and a strong power hitter against right-handed pitching.
However, the southpaw has notoriously struggled against left-handed pitching in his Tennessee career. After rarely reaching base against left-handed hitting last season, Lipcius is starting to turn in better results at the plate in SEC play.
The first baseman started it against Vanderbilt when he worked a pair of walks in the Saturday game.
The big moment had to wait two weeks, however, when Lipcius took Alabama lefty Hunter Furtado deep to center field for a solo home run. In a game that featured no shortage of craziness, Lipcius taking a lefty deep barely showed up on the radar of craziness, but it was there.
Lipcius followed up that strong at-bat in Sunday’s series finale by walking twice and reaching base in two of his three at-bats against left-handed pitching.
While the home run is great, Tennessee doesn’t need that out of Lipcius against left-handed pitching. They need the competitive at-bats Lipcius’ gave them on Sunday and has started giving them for a few weeks.
