It was a no good, very bad start to SEC play for Tennessee baseball this weekend. Missouri swept the Vols in the three-game series with no game being particularly close.
The Tigers outscored Tennessee 23-6 in the three-game series and it may have been even worse if the final two games of the series weren’t seven innings.
Adding to the poor weekend was Tony Vitello earning his first ejection of the season for arguing a balk call early in game two of the series.
It was the first time an SEC opponent has swept Tennessee since Arkansas did it during the 2019 season and perhaps the worst weekend of baseball in Vitello’s five-plus years in Knoxville.
Predictably, Tennessee tumbled in the polls this week though some had the Vols falling further than others.
Let’s take a look at where Tennessee stands in various rankings this week.
More From RTI: Tony Vitello Ejected From Tennessee’s Game Two Loss Against Missouri
D1Baseball – No. 12. Down 10 spots from last week
USA Today Coaches Poll – No. 12. Down 10 spots from last week
Baseball America – No. 11. Down seven spots from last week
Perfect Game – No. 13. Down nine spots from last week
Collegiate Baseball – No. 22. Down 19 spots from last week
NCBWA – No. 12. Down eight spots from last week
One Response
Love Coach V and love the Vols.
Enough to say this, enough musical chairs in the outfield.
It’s one thing to say, “This isn’t last year’s team or the team before”, but then act like not a soul can replace Drew Gilbert. Sure you can. It’s a position. Name the boys for the outfield already! When you have kids competing while SEC is in play then how can you have a leader? Everybody is out to prove they can do it, earn it, fight for it, it’s jarring and makes an unbalanced effort. How can you focus on a team effort when you’re STILL fighting for one of THREE spots in the outfield? Griffin is proven in left field by his success in Cincy, Jared Dickey said in an interview he has the wheels for center and is desperate to prove that, everybody talks about KT’s amazing batting in practice. Stick him in right. Call it your roster and let them prove themselves in play. Recently Coach V was stunned by Dickey falling to the ground “like he had been shot” after he missed a catch in left field. These boys don’t feel supported or trusted. And they are playing like that it too. They are truly in limbo. Set the dang roster, stick to it, and these kids are NOT last year or the year before team, sooo, you gotta adjust and not expect them to do whatever the kids before did to secure spots before SEC play. The SEC music has started and nobody needs a chair yanked from under them. Let’s GO!