Tennessee baseball is back in the SEC Tournament Semifinals for the third time in four years where they’ll face rival Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon.
The winner advances to the SEC Tournament Championship while the winner heads home to the Volunteer State to start preparing for the NCAA Tournament.
What to know as Tennessee baseball looks to extend its stay at the SEC Tournament in Hoover.
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How To Watch — No. 1 Tennessee (48-11, 22-8 SEC) vs Vanderbilt (38-20, 13-17 SEC)
- Approximately 4:30 p.m. ET
- Watch: SEC Network
- Stream link: SEC Network
How They Got Here
Tennessee earned a bye into the double elimination portion of the tournament by earning the one-seed before dropping its SEC Tournament opener against Vanderbilt 13-4. The Vols knocked off Texas A&M 7-4 on Thursday afternoon before defeating Mississippi State 6-5 in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
Vanderbilt was the eight-seed in the SEC Tournament and advanced to the double-elimination portion of the tournament by defeating Florida 6-3 on Tuesday. The Commodores then defeated Tennessee on Wednesday and Mississippi State 4-3 on Thursday night to advance to the semifinals. Vanderbilt didn’t play on Friday having the day off to rest its pitching.
Projected Pitching Matchup
- Tennessee LHP Zander Sechrist (15 GS, 2-1, 4.01 ERA, 1.24 WHIP 49.1 IP, 52 K, 10 BB) vs. Vanderbilt RHP Ethan McElvain (3 GS, 1-2, 3.38 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 24 IP, 28 K, 14 BB)
Bats To Know
Tennessee:
1B Blake Burke — .378/.423/.692, 17 HR, 42 EBH, 51 RBI, 24 BB, 36 K
2B Christian Moore — .377/.450/.794, 27 HR, 41 EBH, 61 RBI, 26 BB, 38 K
3B Billy Amick — .320/.401/.688, 18 HR, 31 EBH, 50 RBI, 20 BB, 40 K
RF Kavares Tears — .340/.446/.668, 17 HR, 30 EBH, 48 RBI, 35 BB, 54 K
LF Dylan Dreiling — .320/.454/.710, 17 HR, 34 EBH, 60 RBI, 41 BB, 49 K
Vanderbilt:
SS Jonathan Vastine — .296/.387/.549, 10 HR, 30 EBH, 40 RBI, 26 BB, 65 K, 11 SB
C Alan Espinal — .288/.393/.532, 12 HR, 26 EBH, 47 RBI, 30 BB, 79 K
2B RJ Austin — .323/.395/.463, 5 HR, 20 EBH, 51 RBI, 23 BB, 37 K, 26 SB
RF Matthew Polk — .314/.374/.503, 5 HR, 22 EBH, 21 RBI, 7 BB, 36 K
UTL Camden Kozeal — .283/.350/.441, 5 HR, 13 EBH, 28 RBI, 14 BB, 31 K
