Tennessee baseball is looking to bounce back from one of its worst weekends in Tony Vitello’s tenure when as it hosts Texas A&M at Lindsey Nelson Stadium for a three-game series.
The Vols are in desperate need of wins after last weekend’s disappointing performances and Texas A&M is coming off a SEC opening series loss against LSU.
Here’s everything you need to know about the weekend series between Tennessee and Texas A&M.
More From RTI: Tony Vitello Previews Tennessee’s Series Against Texas A&M
Game Times — No. 12 Tennessee (16-6, 0-3 SEC) vs. No. 21 Texas A&M (15-6, 1-2 SEC)
Location: Lindsey Nelson Stadium
Game One (Friday): 6:30 p.m. ET
Game Two (Saturday): noon ET
Game Three (Sunday): 1 p.m. ET
How To Watch
Game One: SEC Network+ stream
Game Two: ESPN2. WatchESPN stream
Game Three: ESPN. WatchESPN stream
Projected Pitching Matchups
Game One — RHP Chase Dollander (3-2, 3.90 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 45K, 6BB, 27.2 IP) vs. RHP Nathan Dettmer (1-2, 3.24 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 29 K, 11 BB 25 IP)
Game Two — RHP Chase Burns (2-1, 3.41 ERA, 0.97 WHIP, 51 K, 7 BB, 29 IP) vs. LHP Troy Wansing (2-1, 2.42 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 37 K, 12 BB, 22.1 IP)
Game Three — RHP Drew Beam (3-1, 2.25 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 25K, 8BB, 24 IP) vs. LHP Justin Lamkin (1-1, 1.33 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, 25 K, 8 BB, 20.1 IP)
Bats To Know
Tennessee
Christian Moore — .354 BA, .527 OBP, 1.173 OPS, 5 HR, 9 XBH, 16 RBI
Blake Burke — .338 BA, .409 OBP 1.149 OPS, 8 HR, 13 XBH, 24 RBI
Griffin Merritt — .297 BA, .382 OBP, 1.054 OPS, 7 HR, 10 XBH, 18 RBI
Jared Dickey — .289 BA, .389 OBP, .942 OPS, 5 HR, 9 XBH, 18 RBI
Zane Denton — .299 BA, .420 OBP, .987 OPS, 3 HR, 9XBH, 20 RBI
Texas A&M
Hunter Haas — .413 BA, .520 OBP, 1.145 OPS, 3 HR, 11 XBP, 15 RBI
Jack Moss — .333 BA, .465 OBP, .909 OPS, 1 HR, 6 XBH, 15 RBI
Austin Bost — .278 BA, . 362 OBP, .854 OPS, 3 HR, 10 XBH, 25 RBI
Jace LaViolette — .225 BA, .371 OBP, .822 OPS, 4 HR, 8 XBH, 15 RBI
Last Three Series
Tennessee
03/03 – 03/05 — Swept Gonzaga at home
03/10 – 03/12 — Swept Morehead State at home
03/17 – 03/19 — Missouri swept Tennessee in Columbia
Texas A&M
03/03 – 03/05 — 2-1 at Shriners Classic with wins over Rice and Texas Tech and a loss against Louisville
03/10 – 03/12 — Swept Northern Kentucky
03/17 – 03/19 — Lost two out of three at LSU
Prediction
Tennessee is not playing good baseball right now. There’s no getting around it. Not only are they not one of the best teams in the SEC but they are one of the worst teams in the conference right now. The good news, Texas A&M isn’t playing very well either. The Aggies salvaged their series at LSU but both teams will be hunry entering this series.
More good news for Tennessee, its starting pitching will be better this weekend. The Vols pitching staff was a rare weakness last week at Missouri. I don’t think that will be the case again. In fact, I bet they bounce back with really strong performances.
Between my confidence in its pitching and the return home to Lindsey Nelson Stadium, I think the Vols get back on track against Texas A&M.
Prediction: Tennessee wins two out of three over Texas A&M
