To begin the season, it appeared that Tennessee's trio of starting pitchers was set in stone.

Chase Dollander, Chase Burns and Drew Beam were all returning after dominant seasons as starters a year ago.

However, with the team off to a slow start, Tony Vitello was forced to make a change in his rotation. He ultimately decided on moving Dollander back to the Saturday role and pushing Burns to the bullpen.

Taking the opening spot in the rotation was Andrew Lindsey.

Lindsey is from New Johnsville, Tennessee and committed to play at Walters State Community College out of high school. After one year, he transferred to Charlotte where he dominated on the mound.

Then, in 2022, he took a year off of baseball with no intention of returning. However, he ultimately decided to return and transferred to Tennessee.

Just a year removed from the break, he is now being asked to open series for a team with the hopes of competing for a National Championship.

In this role, he is settling in nicely.

This was shown in a great performance against Kentucky on Friday. He pitched for 6.2 innings while throwing 103 pitches and giving up just two earned runs and six hits.

"He got out there and I think he was at 105 pitches, I didn't look at the exact (103), and he wants to keep going," said Vitello. "He takes enough care of his body that he can keep going. I think each outing has been get a little bit higher in the pitch count. Get a little more comfortable. Get a little better at handling the running game and little things like that. He's not a newborn. He's not starting from scratch. He's got experience. It seems he's just settling into what he's doing."

Although the team claimed victories during his outing during the past three weekends, he was unable to earn a win to pin to his record.

This changed as he helped Tennessee coast to a win on Friday.

The combination of his effective pitching and the offense's outburst secured his first recorded victory as a Vol.

"Been searching for that win," said Lindsey. "Obviously, we've won the last couple weeks with my start but it just hasn't gone to me. It feels good to get a win in that column. Excited to do it in front of the home crowd."

It was tough to predict this level of play from Lindsey before the season, though.

Vitello says they took a chance on him because he showcased an ability to throw strikes at Charlotte.

To begin the year, he came out of the bullpen as a reliever where he looked solid. He tracked to be either a late draft pick or a returner for another year in orange.

Now that he is looking steady as a starter, he has raised his stock for the upcoming draft.

"He's turned himself into a draft pick," said Vitello. "It was a guy that was an in-state guy, that was a good student, that likes the University of Tennessee. Let's give this guy a chance because he throws strikes... He's always throwing strikes for us. He's always been a good guy to have around. But the big picture thing is he's gone from let's give this guy a chance to a draft pick."

Tennessee will need Lindsey to keep this play up down the stretch.

He will be called upon in the SEC and NCAA Tournament where a poor outing could lead to a premature exit.

Recently, he has looked the part of an opening starter, though.

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