Tennessee pitcher Cam Appenzeller has served in many different roles in his freshman season. But he’s taking on a new role on Tuesday night, starting on the mound for the first time in his college career as Tennessee faces West Georgia in a midweek bout.
It almost certainly will not be a long outing for Appenzeller who Tennessee will want to keep fresh ahead of this weekend’s series against Kentucky. Instead of throwing a traditional midweek bullpen to prepare for this weekend, Appenzeller will pitch against the Wolves.
While it won’t be a long appearance, Appenzeller starting will give him experience going through a routine as a starting pitcher.
Tennessee could move Appenzeller, whose 3.72 ERA in SEC play ranks second on the team, into its weekend rotation at some point down the final stretch of the regular season.
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Landon Mack has struggled in three straight series-opening starts. Tennessee is just 2-5 in SEC series openers and Josh Elander acknowledged the need to be better to open series. With Tegan Kuhns rolling as of late, Elander could move Kuhns back to Friday night and then insert Appenzeller into the Saturday starting spot.
Appenzeller has struggled as of late. After not allowing a run in his first 20 innings pitched in SEC play, Appenzeller has allowed 12 earned runs in his last nine innings pitched. Ole Miss tagged Appenzeller for six runs in 2.1 innings pitched while Alabama totaled four runs in 2.1 innings pitched last week.
With Appenzeller’s struggles as of late, Tennessee could just be getting him some in-game work instead of a traditional midweek bullpen.
The Vols could also hope that starting Appenzeller on the weekend could break him out of his recent struggles. Each of the last two weeks, the left-handed freshman has entered the game with traffic on the base paths which has made it more difficult for him to get in a groove.
Tennessee wraps up its nine-game home stand when it hosts West Georgia on Tuesday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. First pitch is at 6 p.m. ET.
