Tennessee baseball starts the back half of SEC play this weekend when they host Kentucky in a three-game series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Vols are coming off of a top 10 road series win at Ole Miss and are looking to defend their home field before an extremely challenging final four series of the regular season. Here’s how to watch the three-game series and other details previewing the weekend set.
More From RTI: AJ Russell To Make SEC Season Debut In Tennessee Baseball Series Against Kentucky
How to Watch: No. 5 Tennessee baseball (32-5, 11-4 SEC) vs Kentucky (20-14, 6-9 SEC)
Game One (Friday):
First pitch time: 6:30 p.m. ET
Announces: PxP: Myan Patel, CC: Cody Hawn
Watch: SEC Network+
Game Two (Saturday):
First pitch time: 6 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Myan Patel, CC: Cody Hawn
Watch: SEC Network+
Game Three (Sunday):
First pitch time: 1 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Myan Patel, CC: Cody Hawn
Watch: SEC Network+
Pitching Matchups
Game One:
Vols LHP Liam Doyle: 9 GS, 6-1, 2.47 ERA, 51 IP, 0.84 WHIP, 95 K, 16 BB
vs.
Wildcats RHP Nate Harris: 7 GS, 3-1, 3.03 ERA, 29.2 IP, 1.16 WHIP, 21 K, 10 BB
Game Two:
Vols RHP Marcus Phillips: 9 GS, 2-2, 3.30 ERA, 43.2 IP, 1.05 WHIP, 54 K, 13 BB
vs.
Wildcats RHP Nic McCay: 9 GS, 3-0, 3.64 ERA, 42 IP, 1.19 WHIP, 39 K, 26 BB
Game Three:
Vols RHP Tegan Kuhns: 6 GS, 2-1, 2.86 ERA, 22 IP, 1.32 WHIP, 23 K, 8 BB
vs.
Wildcats LHP Ben Cleaver: 9 GS, 3-2, 2.87 ERA, 47 IP, 0.94 WHIP, 56 K, 16 BB
What To Know About The Wildcats
After making the College World Series for the first time in program history last season, Kentucky has come back down to earth this season.
The Wildcats were shaky in the pre conference slate. They didn’t lose any series they shouldn’t but lost a game against Wofford, split two against Lipscomb and dropped a midweek matchup against Murray State.
Kentucky has won just one of its first five SEC series this season but they have played a very tough schedule to date. They dropped series against Georgia, Auburn, Ole Miss and Texas while taking two out of three against Texas A&M.
The Wildcats have a strong pitching staff, ranking 24th nationally and seventh in the SEC with a 4.12 ERA. Their starting staff has been solid but they work backwards. Kentucky’s game one starter is its worst while its Sunday starter is its best.
At the plate, Kentucky has three players hitting over .300 this season. Cole Hage (.323 BA, 9 home runs, 16 extra-base hits and 27 RBIs) as well as Tyler Bell (.321 BA, 5 HR, 18 EBH and 31 RBIs) are the Wildcats two best batters.
Big Weekend For Tennessee’s Defense
Tennessee is coming off a weekend where it played sloppy defense at Ole Miss, committing six errors, allowing a multitude of stolen bases and making a handful of other defensive mistakes.
The Vols need to clean their defense up against a Kentucky team that plays more small ball than anyone else in the SEC. Kentucky leads the SEC in sac bunts and is second in the SEC with 74 stolen bases.
Tennessee wasn’t much better defensively on Tuesday night against Bellarmine, committing two more errors. This is one of the main areas to watch in this weekend’s series.
AJ Russell Set To Make SEC Debut
Highly touted Tennessee pitcher AJ Russell will make his 2025 SEC debut against Kentucky this weekend. Russell has thrown in three midweek games to this point in the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last June.
Meeting with the media on Tuesday, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said that Russell will come out of the bullpen but that they’ll give him a clean inning. Expect Russell to throw either one or two innings.
A Quick Prediction
Tennessee should take care of business this weekend, playing at home against a team that its better than. But it won’t be easy. Kentucky is a sound team and while they have been lackluster, they have not been swept this season.
Combine that with Kentucky’s backloaded pitching staff and Tennessee’s lackluster defense as of late, give me the Vols two win two of three.
Prediction: Tennessee wins two out of three
