Tennessee baseball is playing its best baseball of the season as it enters the postseason, winning three of its final four series of the regular season. But the cloud around the final two weeks of the season is Landon Mack’s arm soreness.
A weekend starting pitcher for Tennessee all season, Mack has missed his last two starts due to arm soreness. As the Vols head to Hoover for the SEC Tournament, Mack’s status remains uncertain.
“No major updates there with Mack,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said Monday. “We’re letting him go through his deal. He will be on the roster, the 34-man roster, but it’s still day-to-day.
“I know he’s working through that with Woody (Jeff Wood) and Dr. Klenk (Chris Klenck), and he’s got people in his camp that are helping him as well. But I don’t really have any specific time on it at this point. We’re giving him space to kind of go through this deal, but hoping to get back out there sooner rather than later.”
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.
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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.
Tennessee’s lone two losses in the last two weeks came in the starts that Mack missed. The Vols lack of quality pitching depth has been exploited. Texas scored 13 runs in the series finale in Knoxville while Oklahoma scored 11 runs in the series finale victory in Oklahoma City.
Cam Appenzeller will start in Tennessee baseball’s SEC Tournament opener against South Carolina on Tuesday evening. If the Vols get past the Gamecocks then they will face seven-seed Arkansas on Wednesday evening. Josh Elander said Tennessee has not decided who will start against Arkansas if the Vols get past South Carolina.
First pitch for Tennessee baseball’s SEC Tournament opening game is at approximately 5:30 p.m. ET on Tuesday evening at the Hoover Met. Dave Neal and Lance Cormier are on the call for the SEC Network.
