Tennessee baseball is rolling with the same starting rotation that it deployed last weekend as they prepare to face Mississippi State in a three-game series in Starkville this weekend.
Right-handed pitcher Landon Mack will start on Friday night and lead Tennessee into the weekend before right-handed pitcher Tegan Kuhns starts on Saturday and left-handed pitcher Evan Blanco starts on Sunday.
The Vols mixed up their starting rotation the previous two weeks, inserting LHP Brandon Arvidson instead of Kuhns against Vanderbilt. Then last weekend against LSU, Kuhns returned to the rotation and Arvidson to the bullpen but Kuhns started on Saturday while Mack started on Friday.
While Tennessee dropped the weekend series against LSU, its starting pitchers perform well. Mack allowed just one run in seven innings pitched, Kuhns allowed one run in four innings pitched and Blanco allowed two runs in 6.1 innings pitched.
The Vols dropped game one and three of the series due to quiet offensive performances and poor showing from their bullpen.
“I don’t really anticipate any huge changes,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said Tuesday. “We just need to be better at the end of games.”
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While its starting pitching has been good in SEC play, the conundrum for Tennessee has been the dominance of left-handed reliever Cam Appenzeller. The freshman is off to a truly brilliant start in SEC play, tossing 18.1 scoreless innings with a remarkable 0.55 WHIP.
Appenzeller has been Tennessee’s best pitcher which makes moving him to the starting rotation a strong argument. But it is not a pressing need and Appenzeller is already seeing a serious increase in innings pitched this season.
“Cam is a really special arm and turned down a lot of money to come to school,” Elander said. So that’s one, especially with being — he’s a freshman, right? … You have to be careful with those guys because this is going to be the biggest workload jump they’ve ever had going from high school to their first year of college. So, that’s something in the back of the mind, and what I love about Cam is how he is so low-maintenance, but also I will never take for granted how lucky we are to have him on campus and never put him in a position where he’s not in a position to have success long-term.”
Tennessee has most often used Appenzeller in relief in game two of weekend series. He has thrown 4.2 innings or more in three of his first four SEC appearances.
The Vols begin their three-game series against Mississippi State at 7 p.m. ET on Friday night in Starkville. The SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
