Tennessee baseball resumes NCAA Tournament play Saturday night as they host Cincinnati in a critical matchup in the Knoxville Regional. The winner needs to win just one of its next two games to advance to the super regionals while the loser has to win three straight to climb out of the loser’s bracket.
The Vols advanced to the winner’s bracket with a drama free 9-2 win over Miami (Ohio) Friday night while Cincinnati knocked off Wake Forest 11-6 to set up the matchup.
Here’s how to watch the matchup, a few notes on the Bearcats and a quick prediction.
More From RTI: What To Know About Pitching Matchup For Tennessee vs. Cincinnati In Knoxville Regional
How to Watch: No. 14 Tennessee Baseball (44-16, 16-14 SEC) vs. Cincinnati (33-14, 16-14 Big 12)
First pitch time: 6 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Mike Monaco, CC: Kyle Peterson
Watch: ESPN+
Marcus Phillips Faces A Major Test Against Cincinnati’s Running Game
Marcus Phillips has had a strong season for Tennessee and enters his first ever NCAA Tournament start with a 3-4 record, 3.74 ERA and 1.27 WHIP. But Phillips has had one consistent flaw this season, holding baserunners.
The issue for Phillips has been managing the run game. SEC teams exploited Phillips’ slow delivery in the regular season with Kentucky stealing eight bases against him, Ole Miss stealing seven and two others stealing four.
Tony Vitello wanted Phillips to be more persistent throwing over to first base while also varying his timing with runners on base. The junior has been much better with it his last two outings with neither Arkansas nor Alabama swiping a bag against him in a total of 8.1 innings pitched.
But that challenge gets much greater against Cincinnati. Arkansas and Alabama are two of the least aggressive teams on the base paths in the SEC. The Bearcats entered the weekend ranked 14th nationally in stolen bases this season.
More To Know About The Bearcats
Cincinnati starting pitcher Kellen O’Connor is a soft throwing lefty from Cal State Bakersfield. He boasts a 4.68 ERA and 1.24 WHIP in 65.1 innings pitched.
Offensively, the Bearcats rank 121st nationally with a .284 batting average, 109th nationally with a .459 slugging percentage and 79th nationally with 70 home runs. On the mound, Cincinnati ranks 101st nationally with a 5.44 team-ERA though they rank much better (68th nationally) with a 1.46 WHIP.
A Quick Prediction
I do worry about the matchup for Marcus Phillips against a good base running team, but the Bearcats’ offense also doesn’t strike a ton of fear. Phillips putting together a strong outing where he keeps runners off base would not shock me.
Combine that with Tennessee having its top three bullpen arms fully rested and ready to go and I like the Vols chances on Saturday night.
Tennessee 6, Cincinnati 4
