With Landon Mack scratched from his Sunday start due to arm soreness, it’ll be freshman pitcher Taylor Tracey on the mound for the Volunteers in Game 3 against Texas on Sunday afternoon in Knoxville.
The 6-foot-6 lefty has thrown 18.2 innings so far this year and has only given up three earned runs. He’s posted a 1.45 ERA through this point in the season with four starts on the year.
In addition to the excitement around his first SEC start, there may be a layer of extra motivation for the freshman. Tracey grew up in Longhorn territory as a graduate of Dripping Springs High School in Austin, TX.
It’s not every day you see a player picking up his first conference start against the team that he graduated just 25 miles away from.
Following the win over Texas on Saturday night, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said that the Vols will “have to mix and match a little bit” with Sunday’s outing. We’ll see how long Tracey lasts against the Longhorns, with his season-high in innings coming in at 3.0 on two occasions this season.
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Tennessee enters Sunday’s weekend finale against the No. 4 Longhorns as the winners of the series. The Vols picked up a 5-1 win on Friday night behind Tegan Kuhns’ electric arm, and then found the 14-9 win on Saturday night with six home runs to get the offense going. While a series sweep and a win on Sunday would be huge for the program with just one series left in the regular season, the Vols have already done their part to take home a weekend victory against one of the top teams in the nation.
Watch for Sunday to potentially be a bullpen-heavy day for the Volunteers in Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
First pitch for Sunday’s series finale at Lindsey Nelson Stadium is at noon ET. ESPN2 is broadcasting the game.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of Tennessee’s game against Texas.
