Tennessee baseball heads to Oklahoma City on Wednesday afternoon for a three-game series against Oklahoma. But as the Vols depart for the “Sooner State”, it’s uncertain whether one of their starting pitchers will be available.
Starting pitcher Landon Mack remains “day-to-day” with right arm soreness, Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said following the Vols’ 11-1 victory over Belmont on Tuesday night.
“He’s been moving around, which is a good sign,” Elander said. “He’s been playing catch, and him and I just talked, basically, ‘hey,’ in the dugout pregame, briefly after I got done throwing BP. So it’ll be a day-to-day deal, no major updates. But again, like I said, we’re never going to put him in a position unless he’s 100% convicted and ready to go. But that’s more of it’ll be a day-to-day thing from here on out.”
Tennessee scratched Mack from his originally scheduled start last Sunday against Texas due to the arm soreness. The Vols’ “mixed and matched” with a bullpen game instead as Taylor Tracey started and six Tennessee pitchers threw in relief.
It was a poor showing from Tennessee’s pitching staff as Texas tagged the Vols for 13 runs on 10 hits and 10 walks.
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This weekend’s series at Oklahoma begins Thursday night and runs through Saturday. Despite having one day less rest, Elander said that he anticipates Tegan Kuhns and Evan Blanco still slotting into the first two games of the series.
*Tennessee has officially announced Kuhns as the projected game one starter and Blanco as the projected game two starter. The Vols are leaving the game three starter TBD
“I don’t think (there’s any concern about starting them on short rest),” Elander said. I know we’ve had one of these before. I know Tegan, talking to him yesterday, he said he feels as good as he ever has, which is a really good sign of how well he threw the ball. … And then Blanco is as mature as a person that we’ve ever had as a player. So yeah, no concerns with those two.”
Mack has started on the mound in Tennessee’s first 12 weekend series this season, posting a 4-4 record, 4.67 ERA, 1.49 WHIP in 61.2 innings pitched.
The sophomore began the season as the Vols’ Saturday starter before moving into the Friday night spot. Mack was terrific in his Friday night debut against LSU but struggled his next three times out before turning in a quality start two Sundays ago against Kentucky.
