Tennessee baseball’s season is on the brink as they prepare to face VCU on Saturday afternoon in Chapel Hill. The Vols lost an extra-inning heartbreaker against East Carolina on Friday and are looking to begin their climb out of the loser’s bracket.
Here’s how to watch Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament opener and more to know ahead of the matchup.
More From RTI: Tennessee Using ‘All Hands on Deck’ Pitching Approach For Remainder of Chapel Hill Regional
How To Watch: No. 2 seed Tennessee baseball (38-21, 15-15 SEC) vs. No. 4 seed VCU (37-23, 20-10 A10)
- Noon ET/ 11 a.m. CT
- ESPN
- PxP: Mike Monaco, CC: Ben McDonald
- Stream Link
How Both Fell To The Loser’s Bracket
Tennessee lost a back-and-forth heartbreaker against ECU in 14 innings on Friday. Henry Ford hit a game-tying home run with two outs in the ninth inning but the Vols failed to capitalize on multiple scoring chances and spoiled strong pitching performances from Evan Blanco and Bo Rhudy in the loss.
The Vols hit one-for-10 with runners in-scoring position while failing to score a runner on third with less than two outs in three separate innings.
North Carolina beat VCU 8-0 in game two of the Chapel Hill Regional. The Tar Heels jumped out to a 3-0 first inning lead and didn’t look back in the dominant win.
VCU Strengths
VCU has the best RPI of any four-seed in the field. The Rams have a strong pitching staff that ranks 31st nationally in team-ERA and 50th nationally in team-WHIP but threw ace Patrick Steitz against North Carolina.
Offensively, VCU is tied for 18th nationally with 123 doubles this season. They have the best base stealing team in the regional, swiping 99 bases so far this season with five different players who have double-digit stolen bases.
VCU Weaknesses
Despite the high-quantity of doubles, VCU ranks just 104th in slugging nationally. Jacob Lee has hit 17 home runs and Michael Petite has hit 14 home runs but no one else is in double digits this season.
VCU is not a very good team defensively. They rank just 128th nationally in fielding percentage this season— the lowest mark in the Chapel Hill Regional.
A Quick Prediction
Tennessee 11, VCU 4
