Tennessee baseball is back in action this weekend, hosting rival Vanderbilt at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in its penultimate SEC series of the season.
The Vols are in desperate need of a series victory after dropping their last three and four of their last five SEC sets. Both Tennessee and Vanderbilt are vying for NCAA Tournament seeding. Here’s how to watch the three-game set and more details on the top 15 series.
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How to Watch: No. 15 Tennessee baseball (38-11, 14-10 SEC) vs. No. 11 Vanderbilt (34-15, 14-10 SEC)
Game one:
First pitch time: 5:30 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Kyle Peterson and Jackie Bradley Jr
Watch: SEC Network
Game two:
First pitch time: 5 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Kyle Peterson and Jackie Bradley Jr
Watch: ESPN2
Game three:
First pitch time: 3 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Tom Hart, CC: Kyle Peterson and Jackie Bradley Jr
Watch: ESPN2
Pitching Matchups
Game One:
Vols LHP Liam Doyle: 12 GS, 8-2, 2.39 ERA, 67.2 IP, 0.84 WHIP, 115 K, 23 BB
vs.
Commodores LHP JD Thompson: 12 GS, 4-4, 3.95 ERA, 66 IP, 1.17 WHIP, 88 K, 21 BB
Game Two:
Vols RHP Marcus Phillips: 12 GS, 3-3, 3.02 ERA, 59.2 IP, 1.17 WHIP, 72 K, 23 BB
vs.
Commodores RHP Cody Bawker: 12 GS, 2-4, 4.50 ERA, 54 IP, 1.26 WHIP, 73 K, 24 BB
Game Three:
TBA
vs.
Commodores RHP Connor Fennell: 6 GS, 5-0, 3.20 ERA, 39.1 IP, 0.86 WHIP, 72 K, 9 BB
The Importance For Tennessee To Win The First Two Games
Tennessee didn’t name a Sunday starter as AJ Russell is dealing with a blister. Not sure how serious it is. The Thursday night availability report will probably give us an idea.
With or without Russell, Tennessee has struggled in series finales as of late. The Vols have dropped their last three series finales and four of their last five. The Vols pitching depth has come up short to end series with Tennessee allowing an average of 10.6 runs in its last five series finales.
Vanderbilt sophomore Connor Fennell has been good on Sundays for the Commodores. He’s started six SEC series finales including the last four. In those lost four series, Fendell has posted a 3.22 ERA and Vanderbilt is 4-0.
All that to say, Tennessee needs to win the first two games of the series. Doesn’t mean they can’t win the series if they don’t but Sunday is tough sledding.
What To Know About Vanderbilt
The Commodores enter the weekend series with the same 14-10 SEC record as Tennessee but they’ve done it differently. Vanderbilt has swept three opponents and has been swept by another. They’ve alternated series victories and losses the last six weekends with a series win over Ole Miss last weekend.
We’ve touched on it some but Vanderbilt has a strong pitching staff. Out of the bullpen, Sawyer Hawks has posted a 1.26 ERA in 35.2 innings pitched and Alex Kranzler has posted a 3.38 ERA in 32 innings pitched.
Vanderbilt once again boasts an underwhelming offense. The Commodores rank outside the top 180 nationally in on-base percentage and outside the top 150 nationally in slugging percentage. However, there are a few bats to know. Riley Nelson is hitting .361 with 17 extra-base hits. Brodie Johnson has blasted a team-best 10 home runs and 25 extra-base hits.
The most worrisome thing for Tennessee is Vanderbilt’s proclivity for stealing bases. RJ Austin has swiped 20, Jacob Humphrey has 16, Rustan Rigdon has 14 and Mike Mancini has 13.
Quick Prediction
The weekend series could end up meaning a good deal for NCAA Tournament seeding. But just as importantly, Tennessee needs to play good baseball after a rough month.
It’s a toss up series but Vanderbilt’s strong Sunday pitching and its ability to steal bases against Marcus Phillips has me taking the Commodores.
Prediction: Vanderbilt wins two out of three
