HOOVER, Ala. — The damage was done before a stellar crowd settled into the Hoover Met on Wednesday evening. Arkansas had tattooed two home runs and scored four first inning runs against Evan Blanco and Tennessee on its way to an 8-4 victory to advance to Friday’s quarterfinals at the SEC Tournament.
The senior lefty has now allowed three-plus runs in the first inning of his last three starts, a concerning trend for a key cog in Tennessee’s pitching staff at the most important time of the season.
“Each one is mutually exclusive,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said of the trend. “I mean the ball’s flying in Oklahoma City. He’s attacking the strike zone. And today again they landed on some pitches.”
Two weeks ago, Texas used a three-run homer to take an early lead. Oklahoma used a two-run homer to score three on Blanco in the first inning. Arkansas hit two home runs off Blanco in the first inning, and three total, along with a walk and another double.
In those three outings, opponents have tagged Blanco for four home runs, three walks and 10 total hits to accompany the 10 earned runs allowed.
Tennessee’s first-year head coach does not make much of the trend itself, believing it’s separate issues in separate games.
“This is just his off speed stuff is not as clear as breaking ball,” Elander said Wednesday. “And, again, he’s kind of grinding through for us right there. So him and (pitching coach Josh) Reyn(olds) will make those adjustments, we’ll get him right back out there.”
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It’s not all bad news for Blanco. After the poor first innings, Blanco has settled into games. He allowed five runs in seven innings against Texas and three runs in six innings against Oklahoma. Neither of those are great outings, but they’re far from awful and gave Tennessee the chance to win both games— which they did.
Blanco did not recover in the same way against Arkansas, allowing five earned runs in three innings pitched. It’s unclear if Elander pulled Blanco because of Arkansas’ continued hard contact or because they didn’t want to push Blanco on four days rest after he threw 99 pitches.
Either way, it did not feel like Blanco was going to grit his way into the middle innings against the Razorbacks.
“He’s a guy we have a ton of confidence in down the stretch,” Elander said. “He’s a guy that can punch some guys out. If he’s throwing the ball over the plate and our guys are playing defense we’ll role with Blanco any day.”
Tennessee, with its thin pitching staff, has no option but to put its confidence in Blanco entering the NCAA Tournament. With an impressive postseason pedigree at Virginia and his ability to stabilize himself when he does not have his best stuff, there are reasons to be confident in Blanco entering the NCAA Tournament.
But the three straight poor first innings are a cause for concern as the margins get thinner entering the NCAA Tournament.
