Tennessee baseball couldn’t build off its strong weekend at Mississippi State as it dropped its three-game series against Ole Miss over the weekend. But the Vols avoided disaster, salvaging the series with a Sunday victory after dropping the first two games.
The Vols’ Sunday win left a positive taste in the mouth moving in the new week but there were still negatives. Here’s four takeaways on the weekend series.
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The Horses Ran On Sunday
Josh Elander said following the LSU series that Tennessee “needs its horses to run” for its offense to find its footing. The Vols horses ran on Sunday.
No Tennessee player had a four-hit game this season before both Henry Ford and Blake Grimmer had four hits in the series finale. Grimmer hit three home runs, Clark hit two home runs and Ford hit one home run. That trio projected to be top bats for Tennessee this season.
Blaine Brown is the other bat that Tennessee needs to get going and he struggled again over the weekend. But Sunday was an exaggerated look at what the Vols’ offense can look like when their best bats are delivering.
Consistency Plagued Tennessee’s Offense
Josh Elander told the media Sunday that he joked with his team about them saving all their production from the series finale. Unfortunately for Tennessee, the joke was the Vols’ reality.
Tennessee scored five runs over the first two games of the series on just nine hits. Ole Miss has strong starting pitching but the Vols simply did not give themselves enough scoring opportunities.
The Vols’ top hitters all had strong statistical weekends largely on the backs of massive Sunday games. Ford still had two hits in the first two games of the series but Grimmer and Clark only had one. Manny Marin and Trent Grindlinger came back down after huge series in Starkville.
Tennessee’s offense finding some consistency would change the season’s outlook, but they have not found it yet. With a team this young, it may be difficult to find the consistency they’re looking for.
Two Reliable Tennessee Pitchers Struggled
Tennessee’s success has largely been predicated on having five really strong pitchers. But both Landon Mack and Cam Appenzeller struggled against Ole Miss.
Mack allowed six earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched on Friday night. Appenzeller allowed six earned runs in 2.1 innings pitched on Saturday afternoon. Mack is capable of some shaky performances so his outing was not shocking. Appenzeller has been stellar this season and deserves the benefit of the doubt though his struggles are worth monitoring moving forward.
But Tennessee having one of its top pitchers struggle in two separate games makes it difficult for them to win due to its offensive inconsistencies.
Some Young Arms Flashed
Tennessee fell behind in the middle innings of Friday’s game and wisely did not go to its top bullpen arms. The Vols instead deployed some of their young arms.
Sophomore Nic Abraham pitched 1.2 scoreless innings. Freshman lefty Chandler Day and freshman lefty Will Haas each retired the side in order with Day striking out the side. Freshman Taylor Tracey recorded two outs while allowing one hit.
Abraham and Day have each had some work in SEC play but Haas and Tracey have mostly been midweek arms. The stakes were very low so it’s nothing to draw massive conclusions from but the strong outings were at least a good sign and worth monitoring moving forward.
