Tennessee baseball infielder Ariel Antigua is battling a left shoulder injury that has sidelined him the last week but is not expected to cost him an extended amount of time, head coach Josh Elander said Tuesday night.
“You ask him, he’s always available,” Elander said. “I just told him, like, we have to keep the big picture in mind and I know we’re in the middle of SEC, but when it was starting to affect his ability to make the routine play, that’s when we had to hit pause a little bit. So he’s been under eval with Woody and our staff as well. I don’t see it being any kind of long term deal, but just, he is always running hard, diving for balls and whatnot. So hopefully we get it back out there soon.”
Antigua last played on Tuesday, March 31 against USC Upstate, starting and going 0-for-2 at the plate before Tennessee subbed him out of the game.
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The junior middle infielder has started 13 games and played in 20 games for Tennessee this season, hitting .206 with one home run, three doubles and seven RBIs. Antigua has started a mix of games at shortstop, second base and third base this season.
Tennessee has struggled to find production at second base this season. Six different players have started at second base for Tennessee this season. Chris Newstrom leads the way with nine starts while Tyler Myatt has started six games and Antigua has started five games.
The Vols are looking to get back on track this weekend when they host LSU in a three-game series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Tennessee is 3-6 in SEC play so far this season with Vanderbilt sweeping the Vols in a three-game series in Nashville last weekend.
First pitch for the weekend series between Tennessee and LSU is at 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday evening. Two of the three games are on television with Mike Monaco, Kyle Peterson and Chris Burke are on the call.
