Tennessee baseball is making a change to its weekend schedule against Alabama. The Vols and Crimson Tide will now a doubleheader on Friday due to forecasted inclement weather on Saturday.
First pitch for the first game of the doubleheader is at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. First pitch for the series finale is at either 6:30 p.m. ET or 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game, whichever time is later.
Alabama claimed the series opener 12-8 on Friday night jumping out to a lead in the middle innings and not looking back. Tennessee’s pitchers struggled badly, combining to walk 10 Alabama batters and hit six more.
“We talk about those guys all the time, we just want them to compete over the plate,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said postgame. “I’d rather see a guy hit… four guys hit four home runs in a row than watch what we did. I don’t know if it’s lack of conviction or – there’s no excuses to be made – it was just really poor all the way around on the mound.”
Landon Mack turned in his worst performance of his season, allowing five earned runs on four hits and four walks in 2.1 innings pitched. It was a season-high in earned runs allowed and a season-low in innings pitched for Mack. Top reliever Cam Appenzeller also struggled for a second straight week.
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With Tennessee getting just 17 combined outs from two of its top arms, the double-header is particularly precarious for the Vols’ pitching staff.
Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said that Evan Blanco will still be available despite being on just four days rest. Blanco threw a career-high 110 pitches last Sunday in Tennessee’s series finale win against Ole Miss.
“He’ll be available,” Elander said. “Really everybody is available outside of Mack (Landon Mack) and Appy (Cam Appenzeller). Those would be the two – with getting over 70 pitches – not going to be able to bring those guys back. Trying to navigate that game, kind of a weird one with the back-and-forth and all the free 90s and free hit-by-pitches and stuff going out.”
With Thursday night’s series-opening loss against Alabama, the Vols are now 8-11 in SEC play and the Crimson Tide are 11-8 in SEC play.
The SEC Network+ is streaming both games with Cruz Martin and Cody Hawn on the call.
