Tennessee baseball is back in action this weekend as they travel to Starkville to face a strong Mississippi State in a three-game series. The Bulldogs are looking to bounce back from being swept against Georgia while Tennessee is looking to stack SEC wins.
Here’s how to watch the three games and more details on the SEC weekend series in Starkville.
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How To Watch: Tennessee baseball (21-12, 4-8 SEC) at No. 9 Mississippi State (26-7, 7-5 SEC)
Game one: 7 p.m. ET on Friday, April 10
Announcers — PxP: Bart Gregory, CC: Charlie Winfield
Watch: SEC Network+
Game two: 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 11
Announcers — PxP: Bart Gregory, CC: Charlie Winfield
Watch: SEC Network+
Game three: 2 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 12Announcers — PxP: Bart Gregory, CC: Charlie Winfield
Watch: SEC Network+
Pitching Matchups
Friday:
Vols RHP Landon Mack (3-2, 3.48 ERA, 1.39 WHIP, 44 IP, 58 K, 17 BB) vs. Bulldogs LHP Tomas Valincius (6-1, 1.15 ERA, .83 WHIP, 47 IP, 66 K, 11 BB)
Saturday:
Vols RHP Tegan Kuhns (1-3, 3.89 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 39.1 IP, 47 K, 8 BB) vs. Bulldogs RHP Duke Stone (5-0, 3.75 ERA, 1.25 WHIP, 36 IP, 55 K, 15 BB)
Sunday:
Vols LHP Evan Blanco (2-2, 3.83 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 42.1 IP, 52 K, 18 BB) vs. Bulldogs LHP Charlie Foster (0-1, 5.21 ERA, 1.74 WHIP, 19 IP, 21 K, 14 BB)
Mississippi State Is Looking To Bounce Back From A Bad Weekend
Through the first three weeks of SEC play, Mississippi State looked like they may be the best team in the conference. The Bulldogs were 7-2 with a series win at Arkansas, a weekend sweep of Vanderbilt and a series victory at Ole Miss.
But last weekend went poorly for Mississippi State. Georgia swept Mississippi State in Starkville in three tight games. Georgia won game one by a run, game two by two runs and game three in extra innings.
After a bad weekend at home, Mississippi State will be highly motivated to get right against Tennessee this weekend.
Tennessee Is Down One Utility Man
Tennessee baseball utility man Chris Newstrom is not with the Vols this weekend as they travel to Starkville to face Mississippi State due to an “internal issue.” The issue is not expected to lead to an extended absence for the the sophomore.
Newstrom entered his sophomore season with sizable expectations but has failed to make a consistent impact to this point in the season. He’s played in 23 games and started 15 but is hitting just .180 with one home run, three additional extra-base hits and six total RBIs.
The Scottsdale, Arizona native can play both infield and outfield but has fallen out of the rotation and has not has an at-bat since March 31 against Austin Peay. Newstrom’s last SEC at-bat was on March 22 against Missouri. He’s started only two games in SEC play.
Quick Prediction
The Vols badly need to win at least one game this weekend for their NCAA Tournament hopes. I’ll say they get that done but no more.
Mississippi State wins two of three
