Tennessee baseball has ironed out its pitching plan for this weekend’s super regional series against Arkansas at Baum-Walker stadium.
Right-handed pitcher Marcus Phillips will start game one for Tennessee on Saturday evening, and ace Liam Doyle will start game two of the series on Sunday afternoon.
Doyle is Tennessee’s ace and has been its game one starter for the vast majority of the season. The SEC Pitcher of the Year and a Golden Spikes Award finalist, Doyle enters super regionals with a 2.84 ERA, 0.96 WHIP and a nation-best 158 strikeouts in 92 innings pitched.
But Tennessee heavily taxed Doyle last week in the Knoxville Regional. The Vols ace threw 104 pitches while allowing one earned run in 6.2 innings against Miami (Ohio) on Friday night before turning around and throwing 31 pitches in 2.1 scoreless innings of relief against Wake Forest on Monday. That led to Tennessee moving Doyle back a day in its rotation.
Phillips has been Tennessee’s game two starter for most of the season and enters this weekend with a 4-4 record, 3.71 ERA and 1.27 WHIP in 77.2 innings pitched.
The junior started game one of a series for Tennessee once previously this year and it was ironically against Arkansas when he allowed three earned runs in 4.1 innings in a 10-7 win. That was the Vols’ only win in their weekend series in Fayetteville.
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The other oddity for Tennessee this weekend is that starting catcher Cannon Peebles is suspended for the series opener after the home plate umpire ejected him against Wake Forest Monday night.
Backup catcher Stone Lawless will start behind the plate for the Vols. Lawless caught nine of Phillips’ 16 starts this season including five in SEC play while having not caught Doyle in a game all season. Tony Vitello downplayed the importance of familiarity while meeting with the media Thursday.
“I don’t think that will matter,” Vitello said. “There’s guys we look down on the right that we have confidence in and Stone [Lawless] is one of them. He’s the next guy up and he’s ready to go. I think the pitching decision will be more about the pitcher himself.”
While the catcher didn’t affect the decision, Phillips will throw to Lawless in game one marking the 10th time the two have teamed up this season.
First pitch for the best of three series at Baum-Walker Stadium is 5 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Tom Hart, Chris Burke and Kyle Peterson are on the call for ESPN.
