Tennessee baseball opens up SEC Tournament play against Alabama on Wednesday morning at the Hoover Met as the Vols look to defend their title from a season ago.
Meeting with the media over Zoom Tuesday, Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said that he was unsure of who will start for the Vols against the Crimson Tide but did list a number of pitchers that will be available.
“Just that Marcus (Phillips), (AJ) Russell, (Nate) Sneed, (Tanner) Franklin are all rested. (Dylan) Loy and (Brandon) Arvidson have been our two lefties we’ve leaned on the most,” Vitello said. “Those guys are, you know, as fresh as you’d think. … Then (Brayden) Krenzel, you know, showed on Saturday that — well, heck, we basically had to take him out because of pitch count, not because how he’s throwing.
“So all those guys will be available and we’ll kind of try and throw the kitchen sink at them. In what order? We hadn’t discussed.”
AJ Russell has started twice for Tennessee in SEC play but has pitched out of the bullpen affectively the last two weekends. If Marcus Phillips is available on six days of rest, a week after throwing off five days of rest, he would be the most logical choice.
Phillips has been Tennessee’s game two starter all season before last weekend when he took the ball in the opener. While Vitello didn’t explicitly say Phillips will start for Tennessee against Alabama, the eighth-year head coach noted that “odds are” Phillips will start against the Crimson Tide. However, the short rest could lead to a shorter outing.
More From RTI: What Tennessee HC Tony Vitello Said Previewing The 2025 SEC Tournament
“I don’t think with him, or maybe some of our other guys in this tournament, we’re looking to win, that’ll be the pursuit that we’re on,” Vitello said. “But we’re also not looking to go crazy with pitch counts, in particular with the guys that are on short rest.”
Russell would be the logical long relief option for Tennessee against the Crimson Tide. The junior was affective in two innings of long relief in Tennessee’s game one win over Arkansas last weekend. Russell can serve in a bunch of different roles, but long relief has been a point of weakness for the Vols this season.
“Bridge innings have been hit or miss for us, to be blunt about it,” Vitello said. “It’s been again, hit or miss, and part of it is who is available and who is not. And AJ could start. He could close. As you mentioned, he’s done a variety of things. For this team in particular, he got our only win of the weekend (at Arkansas) by being a very, very valuable. Call it bridge guy or middle relief, whatever you want to.”
If Phillips indeed does start against Alabama, ace Liam Doyle would be in line to start for Tennessee on Thursday against top-seeded Texas giving the Vols their best weapon against the conference’s regular season champion.
“Liam (Doyle) – the way we set up the pitching. He’s anxious to pitch here, but for that to work, we’re going to need to win,” Vitello said. “And so, he’s kind of set aside his routine separate from the rest of the team. But everybody else is, you know – put everything we got into tomorrow.”
First pitch between Tennessee and Alabama is at 10:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday morning. The SEC Network is broadcasting the game.
