After a victory over South Carolina on Tuesday evening, the Tennessee Volunteers will be back in action with a second-round SEC Tournament matchup against Arkansas from the Hoover Met on Wednesday. The Vols have been looking sharp as of the last few weeks and are hoping to continue that momentum with a run in the conference tournament this week in Hoover.
But while we don’t know what the postseason and the NCAA Tournament will hold for the Vols, we do know that it’s been a pretty wild ride to get to the spot where the team is now. Tennessee had early regular-season series losses to Georgia, Vanderbilt, and LSU, with the series against the Commodores resulting in a three-game sweep in which every loss was in walk-off fashion. The Vols didn’t sink in the water, though. Tennessee bounced back with big-time series wins over No. 9 Mississippi State (sweep), No. 13 Alabama, No. 4 Texas, and Oklahoma.
During the second-round tournament matchup between Vanderbilt and Florida on Wednesday, ESPN commentators Chris Burke and Tom Hart shared some quick thoughts on the Vols’ season. Hart asked Burke, a former Tennessee great, to give his thoughts on the current season for the Vols.
“Eventful,” Burke said with a laugh.
“I didn’t ask for the offseason,” Hart joked back.
“Yeah, all of it,” Burke said. “You talked about it earlier; we were there for when they got swept in Nashville and there were some real low lows to the Tennessee roller coaster ride this year. But starting with a sweep at Mississippi State-”
Burke’s thought was cut off by a Florida hit in the third inning, but he went back to finish his sentence after the runner got on base.
“But it did feel like when Tennessee headed down to Mississippi State, that was a series where if that didn’t go their way, they might find themselves on the outside looking in come this time of the year,” Burke said. “But they swept that series, beat Texas two out of three in the second to last weekend of the year, beat Oklahoma two out of three on the road. And you can tell by the way they swung the bat last night, it’s an offense and a team that’s playing with kind of a newfound swagger.”
Hart joked that it’s a bit surprising to see that Tennessee was a team that needed to find a little swagger, based on recent years under Tony Vitello. Burke responded by bringing up an offensive power stat that’s helped the Volunteers in that department.
“You look at the home run totals in the league and all of a sudden they find themselves third in the SEC in home runs, which is a place they’ve been accustomed to,” Burke said.
It’s been a collective effort to help the Vols gain momentum in the back half of the season, with the starting pitching staff and the offense both heating up at the right time. Starting with the Alabama series in late April and excluding midweek contests, Tennessee’s offense has averaged 8.15 runs in 13 games leading into Wednesday’s game against Arkansas.
The Vols and Razorbacks will square off around 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday for a spot in the quarterfinals against 2-seed Texas on Friday afternoon.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live, on-site coverage of Tennessee Baseball’s run through the SEC Tournament this week in Hoover.
