Tennessee pitcher Landon Mack will miss a second straight start as he deals with right arm soreness. Mack was day-to-day entering the weekend before the Vols listed him as “out” on the Saturday SEC Availability Report.
The Vols scratched Mack from his originally scheduled start against Texas last weekend due to arm soreness and has continued to monitor his progress in the week since.
“Landon Mack will not be available,” Mack said on the Vol Network pregame show. “He continues to go through his progression and is going through some deals but he will not be available today.”
Tennessee clinch its weekend series at Oklahoma by holding on to defeat the Sooners 9-4 in game two of the series. The Vols led by 5-3 when the game went into a weather delay on Friday night before the offense extended the lead.
More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Outlasts Oklahoma To Claim Weekend Series
Freshman left-handed pitcher Chandler Day will start in game three against Oklahoma in what will almost certainly be a bullpen game.
Last week, the Longhorns scored 13 runs as Tennessee ineffectively utilized a bullpen game. During his pregame radio appearance with the Vol Network, Elander said that Bo Rhudy would be available for the series finale after throwing 25 pitches on Thursday night.
Mack 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.
“At this point, it’s really still a day-to-day deal,” Elander said on if Mack could pitch at the SEC Tournament.
“I don’t want to speculate at all. I know there’s a bunch of people in his corner helping him out and making sure he’s in a good spot and can make a good decision one way or another. We’ll give him some time and lean on some professionals to make that decision when the time is appropriate.”
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.
First pitch for Tennessee’s series finale against Oklahoma is at 4 p.m. ET on Saturday afternoon. The SEC Network+ is streaming the game.
