Tennessee went on the road and took care of business, sweeping Missouri in Columbia for the Vols’ second SEC sweep of the season. Tennessee now sits alone atop the SEC East and tied atop the SEC standings with two weeks left in the regular season.
Let’s take a look back at a productive weekend for Tennessee while looking ahead to a top five matchup in Lindsey Nelson Stadium this weekend.
Three Observations
1 —Vols take care of business for 27 innings in Columbia— Tennessee went on the road looking for a sweep to keep itself at least tied atop the SEC East standings. The Vols did just that, outscoring Missouri 26-10 over three games, sweeping Missouri to improve to 17-7 in SEC play.
The Vols leave the weekend with a half game lead over Vanderbilt, the Commodores series finale against Alabama was canceled, and tied with Arkansas and Mississippi State atop the SEC standings.
Tennessee answered any questions about rust after eight days off or about overestimating its opponent. The Vols weren't perfect on Friday night, making a plethora of outs on the base paths while hitting 2-of-17 with runners in-scoring position.
However, the Vols worked extremely competitive at-bats throughout the game, forcing Missouri’s starter to throw 109 pitches and the Tigers’ two best relievers to throw 59 and 53 pitches respectively.
Once the Vols got the big hit— a Max Ferguson go ahead homer— they didn’t look back, finishing the Tigers Friday, controlling the game Saturday despite a poor start from WIll Heflin, and then dominating Missouri’s deplenished pitching staff Sunday in a dominant win.
Credit Tony Vitello and this team’s leadership for the consistency they had all season and particularly over the last three weeks. Facing three teams they were better than, Tennessee stayed dialed in every game and outscored its opponents 84-38 while going 7-2 in the stretch.
It’s still a long two weeks until the finish line but Tennessee has put itself in the position to compete for the SEC Championship all the way to the final day of the regular season.
2 —Max Ferguson looks like the preseason All America he was— Tennessee second baseman Max Ferguson was the Vols’ most decorated player entering the season, earning a plethora of preseason All American honors and coming in as Tennessee’s highest rated MLB Draft prospect.
While Ferguson remained a reliable glove in the field, the lanky junior has struggled badly at the plate for most of the season with his batting average totaling .220 entering the Florida series.
Ferguson slowly showed some signs of life against the Gators, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M but has exploded the last two weekends looking fully like the preseason All American he was.
The Florida native went 4-for-11 with four walks against Kentucky but was even better in Columbia, going 7-of-11 at the plate, adding three walks.
On top of the impressive .714 on-base percentage, Ferguson provided the power hitting two home runs and driving in six runs. Not only did he hit the long ball, Ferguson hit them at the most opportune times. Ferguson’s go-ahead two-run home run in the eighth inning of Friday’s series opener gave the Vols their first series lead and proved to be the difference.
Then on Sunday after Liam Spence struck out for the second innings’ second out, Ferguson went deep for a three run home run that gave Tennessee a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Ferguson’s power doesn’t stand out to you like Jordan Beck, Connor Pavolony or others for UT, but it’s started to show up as of late as he has four homers over the past four series with a midweek long ball during that stretch too.
It’s hard to overstate just how much better and more comfortable Ferguson looks at the plate right now than he did a month ago. The junior has gone from Tennessee’s worst bat in the lineup to a patient hitter with surprising power, exactly what he showed in the shortened 2020 season.
The competition gets amped up to another level next weekend against Arkansas, but Ferguson seems to be catching fire at the right time for the Vols.
3 —Bullpen turns in a near perfect weekend— While Tennessee’s offense did the bulk of the work to sweep Missouri, it was the Vols’ bullpen that kept the drama to a minimum in Columbia.
Sean Hunley entered right after Ferguson gave Tennessee a 5-4 lead Friday and left no room for a Tigers’ comeback retiring all six batters he faced using a pair of strikeouts. It was a strong bounce back for Hunley after struggling in his Friday appearance against
Kentucky a week before.
After a poor outing from Will Heflin Saturday, RHP Camden Sewell entered a tie game in the top of the fourth inning. Sewell stabilized Tennessee with a pair of scoreless innings allowing two hits while striking out four.
The two scoreless innings was all Tennessee’s offense needed to reclaim the lead and once they did Kirby Connell wouldn’t let Missouri back in the game allowing just one baserunner in three innings. The sophomore only had one strikeout, a normal strength for the lefty with a big hook, but he recorded six groundouts in the 10 batters he faced.
Tennessee’s bullpen held Missouri scoreless for the first nine innings it faced them before the Tigers tallied an unearned run off Redmond Walsh in the ninth inning of Sunday’s game.
The Vols’ bullpen has consistently showed it can have success against lesser hitting teams and can struggle when facing top hitting teams due to the lack of overpowering stuff and the high propensity to throw strikes, still the weekend in Columbia was Tennessee’s bullpen’s best in some time and should be good for momentum ahead of matchups with two high powered offenses to end the season.
Tennessee also got action for Will Mabrey and Elijah Pleasants, more on him below, as they try to find more reliable arms for postseason play.
Two Questions
1. Does Pleasants become a factor?
Elijah Pleasants was one of the positive surprises of the offseason, earning the Sunday starter job to begin the season after a strong fall and winter.
After a few poor starts, Pleasants confidence and playing time dropped with the junior earning his last start on March 7 against Georgia State.
By the time SEC play rolled around Pleasants was a complete afterthought in Tennessee’s bullpen, not earning an inning in the first five series.
Over the last few weeks however, Pleasants has started to factor more, earning playing time in three of Tennessee’s last four series. It hasn’t been in big moments but the Clarksville native has been good in SEC play allowing no runs and one hit in 2.2 innings of SEC action.
Pleasants was good in the ninth inning Saturday against Missouri and Tony Vitello said on the Vol Network pregame Sunday that Pleasants is going to play an important role going forward.
It’s far from the weekend starter role he began the season with, but Vitello is starting to put some more on Pleasants plate and as they appear to be bringing him on for postseason play. That’s faith they haven’t placed in either of Jason Rackers or Connor Housley to date.
Pleasants has the arm power and stuff to consistently give Tennessee an inning on the weekend. For Pleasants, it’s all about throwing strikes and remaining confident when things don’t go as planned.
2. Can Tennessee’s starters hold up against Arkansas’ firepower?
The top spot in the SEC is on the line for the Vols and Razorbacks top five meeting this weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium
Arkansas challenges Vanderbilt for the best team on Tennessee’s schedule and while the emphasis is on the pitching for the Commodores the emphasis is on the Razorbacks’ high powered offense entering the weekend.
Arkansas ranks third in the country and first in the SEC with 347 runs, first in the nation with 76 home runs and seventh in the nation and first in the SEC with a .500 slugging percentage. The Razorbacks enter the weekend with five players hitting over .300 and five players with nine or more homers.
So you get the point, Arkansas’ lineup is dynamic and can pour on runs fast. It also isn’t a particularly good matchup for Tennessee’s pitchers.
The Vols’ starters are going to throw strikes but their weakness is their vulnerability to give up the deep ball. No one can jump on you and take advantage of missed pitches like the Razorbacks.
It will be interesting to see how Tennessee’s pitchers, especially Chad Dallas, attack the Arkansas’ lineup. It should prove as a great barometer for the Vols’ pitching before postseason play.
Also, Tennessee’s defense will be crucial this weekend. We saw it in the Vanderbilt series, when you give great lineups second chances they’ll make you pay more times than not.
One Prediction
Tennessee hands Arkansas its first SEC series loss of the season
Tennessee welcomes the number one team in the country to Lindsey Nelson Stadium this weekend for an absolutely massive series.
On top of what’s on the line in the SEC Championship race, a series win over Arkansas would likely all but lock up a super regional host spot for Tennessee— if they were to win a regional.
Arkansas has been the most consistent team in the country all season with an incredibly deep and dangerous lineup and a pitching staff that has shown weaknesses at times but has been solid overall.
On paper I think Arkansas is the better team but I am continually impressed by the growth Tennessee’s lineup has shown over the last month. The Vols’ offense has gone from one that looked like it didn’t have the firepower to compete with the conference’s best to one that can score double digits at any time.
Combine that with the competitive, never give up nature of this Tennessee team and I can’t bet against them. Tennessee keeps breaking down barriers and hands Arkansas its first SEC series loss of the season.
