Tennessee baseball hasn’t made any final decisions about its starting pitching plan for this weekend’s Knoxville Regional at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
But as of Tuesday morning the Vols will probably keep things similar to the regular season, starting ace Liam Doyle on Friday night against Miami (Ohio) before throwing Marcus Phillips against either Wake Forest and Cincinatti on Saturday.
“More than likely,” Vitello said on if they’ll keep the same pitching order this weekend. “We have got some bullpens today so we will see how those go then have conversations. That has kind of been the order that held true through the season until we had schedule quirks with the Thursday series and the tournament. Regardless of how we do it, we are not looking to outstrategize anybody this time of year. Just outcompete people or compete to the best of our abilities and hopefully that gets us where we want.”
The Vols have rarely changed their pitching plan in the postseason under head coach Tony Vitello but this year presented an opportunity that makes sense.
Miami (Ohio) has a strong offense for a four-seed with seven batters hitting over .300 on the season. The Redhawks have had success both with contact and power hitting. Entering the weekend, Miami (Ohio) ranks 53rd nationally with a .299 team batting average and 43rd with a .497 team slugging percentage.
But while the Mac Champions can hit, they are not aggressive on the base paths. The Redhawks have stolen just 44 bases this season, a mark that ranks 238th nationally.
Marcus Phillips has been Tennessee’s game two starter all season and has undoubtedly been the Vols’ second most productive starting pitcher, posting a 3.64 ERA in 71.1 innings pitched. But Phillips downfall has come from his struggles managing the run game.
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Throw in the fact that three-seed Cincinatti is not just one of the top base stealing teams in the entire regional but the entire country, ranking 18th nationally with 128 stolen bases on the season led by one of the nation’s top base stealers in Landyn Vidourek. The .299 hitter has stolen 37 bases on 38 attempts this season.
That combination opened up the possibility of using Phillips in game one and saving Doyle for Saturday against either Cincinatti or Wake Forest.
“You have to think about the one game in front of you,” Vitello said of their philosophy not the change pitching order. “What inning is front of you … In the tournament format, you can’t get blinded by the fact there is a tomorrow and things like that. That has maybe benefitted us too like in last year’s final series we played.”
“Overall, we are looking at the first against against Miami of Ohio.”
Phillips has been better controlling the run game as of late. Neither Arkansas nor Alabama stole a base against Phillips in 8.1 innings pitched the last two weeks after four different SEC teams swiped four-plus bags against the junior in the regular season.
Liam Doyle is the SEC Pitcher of the Year and enters the NCAA Tournament with a 9-3 record, 3.04 ERA, 0.98 WHIP and 142 strikeouts in 83 innings pitched. Doyle enters the Knoxville Regional with the nation’s second most strikeouts trailing only LSU’s Kade Anderson.
It’s unclear who will start for Tennessee in game three of a regional. Tegan Kuhns has been the Vols’ game three starter for much of the season but is coming off a poor outing against Vanderbilt in the SEC Tournament. Both AJ Russell and Brandon Arvidson have had successful long relief outings as of late.
Tennessee begins its NCAA Tournament run on Friday night against Miami (Ohio) at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch is at 6 p.m. ET with Mike Monaco and Kyle Peterson on the call for ESPN+.
