Tennessee baseball’s series opener against Auburn will not resume on Friday night after weather led to an extended rain delay in the middle of the first inning. The game was originally scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. ET but has now been pushed back by 11:35 a.m. ET.
Auburn jumped out to an early 2-0 lead after Cade Belyou worked a one-out walk and Ike Irish took Liam Doyle deep to left field for a two-run homer. The game went into a rain delay at 8:13 p.m. ET in the middle of the inning.
The series opener was originally scheduled for 6 p.m. ET but the two teams moved up the first pitch to 5:30 p.m. ET earlier in the day. Inclement weather arrived earlier than expected and led to a weather delay until 8 p.m. ET. The game started shortly after 8 p.m. ET in a steady rain.
Inclement weather is in the forecast on Saturday too. But for now, first pitch time remains at 6 p.m. ET. All three games in the weekend series are being streamed on the SEC Network+.
Tennessee enters the weekend series looking to bounce back from consecutive series losses. April was a rough month for the Vols as they dropped three out of four series and now is now on the outside looking in to earn a top eight seed nationally entering the home stretch of the regular season.
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Tony Vitello is hoping that a flip in the middle of his defense and AJ Russell’s return to the weekend rotation will spark the Vols as the calendar turns to May.
After a rough 2024 season, Auburn has bounced back this season and is back as one of the top handful of teams in the SEC. The Tigers lost just two games in the pre conference slate. UAB got them in a midweek game, and a second time last month, as well as one game in an Old Dominion series.
The Tigers have won five of its seven SEC series to this point in the season but its conference record is just a game above .500 because the Tigers were swept in both series— at Georgia and at Texas. Auburn has series wins over Alabama, Vanderbilt and a series sweep over LSU.
Auburn’s two best players from last season are back and are its best bats again. Cooper McMurray is hitting .337, nine home runs, 13 doubles and 40 RBIs. Ike Irish is hitting .329 with 11 home runs, 11 more extra-base hits and 37 RBIs. Four Tigers are hitting over .300 and four Tigers have four or more home runs.
