Tennessee baseball is back on the road this weekend as they head to the mid state to face rival Vanderbilt for a three-game series at Hawkins Field.
The Vols enter the rivalry weekend as the top-ranked team in the country and are looking for their eighth straight series victory.
Here’s everything to know about the three-game series on West End.
- 3 p.m. ET
- Watch: ESPN2
- PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Chris Burke
On if he knows why Tennessee has been so successful against Vanderbilt over the last couple of seasons
“It could can be football, it can be basketball. Sometimes we beat Kentucky in basketball. Sometimes they beat us. I could go up and down about the other sports. You just better be ready to take lumps in this league no matter who you are, and then the cool thing about it, is if you can keep navigating through it or keep pushing forward, when you win, they’re the best wins in the world regardless if they come on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, even Thursday — if you can get one of those SEC wins under your belt. It feels like it’s cause for bust out the champagne, but in our sport it’s get ready for the next day.”
Projected Pitching Matchups
Game One: LHP Chris Stamos (4 GS, 3-0, 3.32 ERA, 21.2 IP, 22 K, 10 BB, 1.06 WHIP) vs. RHP Bryce Cunningham (12 GS, 6-3, 4.36 ERA, 64 IP, 77 K, 25 BB, 1.17 WHIP)
Game Two: RHP Drew Beam (12 GS, 6-2, 3.39 ERA, 69 IP, 61 K, 14 BB, 1.28 WHIP) vs. LHP Carter Holton (11 GS, 6-3, 4.88 ERA, 62.2 IP, 89 K, 23 BB, 1.20 WHIP)
Game Three: LHP Zander Sechrist (12 GS, 1-0, 4.14 ERA, 41.1 IP, 45 K, 9 BB, 1.26 WHIP) vs. TBD
Bats To Know
Tennessee:
1B Blake Burke — .380/.445/.749, 15 HR, 38 EBH, 44 RBI, 21 BB, 32 K
2B Christian Moore — .387/.457/.778, 21 HR, 34 EBH, 50 RBI, 23 BB, 34 K
3B Billy Amick — .350/.419/.771, 18 HR, 29 EBH, 47 RBI, 16 BB, 31 K
OF Kavares Tears — .360/.473/.707, 14 HR, 24 EBH, 37 RBI, 33 BB, 40 K
LF Dylan Dreiling — .316/.440/.715, 16 HR, 30 EBH, 54 RBI, 34 BB, 41 K
Vanderbilt:
Jonathan Vastine — .315/.412/.576, 8 HR, 25 EBH, 34 RBI, 24 BB, 49 K, 10 SB
Alan Espinal — .298/.414/.530, 9 HR, 21 EBH, 36 RBI, 28 BB, 61 K
Jayden Davis — .319/.393/.444, 2 HR, 15 EBH, 35 RBI, 16 BB, 20 K
RJ Austin — .311/.388/.451, 5 HR, 15 EBH, 48 RBI, 21 BB, 34 K, 21 SB
Matthew Polk — .302/.369/.504, 5 HR, 17 EBH, 17 RBI, 7 BB, 28 K
Tennessee baseball makes the 180 mile trip west on Interstate-40 this weekend as it looks to keep its winning ways rolling against Vanderbilt.
The Vols have won seven straight games against their instate rival and are looking to add another series win to their already stout NCAA Tournament resume.
Vanderbilt enters this weekend in a cold stretch but this is a very different team at home than they are on the road. This should be another difficult, grind it out series for Tony Vitello in his squad.
Still, Tennessee’s lineup is definitively better and I trust the Vols’ pitching more than I trust Vanderbilt’s pitching staff right now. Because of that, I think Tennessee will get it done on the road again.
Tennessee wins two out of three over Vanderbilt
