Tennessee went 3-2 at the SEC Tournament, dropping its opener in controversial fashion to Alabama before winning three straight games to reach the title game for the first time since 1995.
The Vols would drop the championship game to Arkansas but it was still a strong week in Hoover as Tennessee now turns its attention to hosting a regional for the first time since 2005.
Three Observations
1 —Tennessee exercises SEC Tournament demons— As I outlined in my SEC Tournament preview, success has been hard to come by for the Vols in the conference tournament. Tennessee entered the week without a win in Hoover since 2007 and even strong UT teams— like the 1996 and 97 teams— went two and out in the event, failing to win a game.
After Tennessee lost its tournament opener to Alabama on a bad runner’s interference call, the Vols easily could have saved their best pitching and turned their attention to the NCAA Tournament.
Instead Tennessee responded much like they have to adversity or failure all season, bouncing back and attacking the challenge ahead of them. The Vols run-ruled a Mississippi State team that threw its ace and two best bullpen arms and got their revenge by run ruling Alabama to advance to the semi finals.
The run-rule victories were an emphatic statement by Tennessee and it helped save the Vols’ pitching allowing them to have a real path to a tournament title.
The Vols beat Florida for the third time this season before falling in the championship game to Arkansas but it was a successful week for Tennessee. The Vols put their SEC Tournament drought in the rearview while proving again they are one of the best two or three teams in the SEC.
You also can’t undersell the importance of Tennessee getting some postseason baseball under its belt going into the NCAA Tournament. Plenty of major contributors on this team have never played in the postseason and even the players on the 2019 team have limited experience. Those roster members played nearly as many games this week as they did in 2019.
That extra experience could play dividends in the coming weeks.
2 —Camden Sewell emerges as a fourth starter— Junior pitcher Camden Sewell had been pitching well heading into the SEC Tournament. The right-handed pitcher had allowed just two earned runs in his last 15 innings pitched, going back seven outings to Tennessee’s series against Texas A&M.
However, the challenge Sewell faced in Saturday’s semifinal against Florida— getting his first SEC start of the season just two days after throwing 27 pitches in relief against Alabama— was his greatest of the season.
Sewell responded as well as anyone could have hoped or expected, throwing six shutout innings against the Gators, allowing two hits and three total baserunners while striking out six.
The Cleveland, Tennessee native’s performance earned him a spot on the All-Tournament team and propelled the Vols to their first conference title game since 1995.
More than that though, it solidifies an already solid Tennessee pitching staff heading into this week’s regional.
“Took the ball,” Tony Vitello said of Sewell’s performance against Florida. “It was kind of our plan all along, when the postseason would roll around, to use him as a starter. He's kind of been a swing man for us. He started in the regional as a freshman. He's fully capable, as you saw today. I think Camden Sewell can win this game today, but Camden Sewell in the zone showed up, or whatever you want to call it. He was in a flow there, and it's pretty special to watch. We certainly owe him a big, big thanks.”
The regional format opens the possibility of playing four games in three or four days and Sewell’s emergence gives Tennessee a clear fourth starter if needed. If not needed, the Vols have another bullpen arm peaking at the right time and that can give Tennessee nine outs in a single game.
3 —Gilbert and Russell have bounce back weeks— The depth of Tennessee’s lineup has been prominent over the past month and one of the biggest strengths of this UT team. For the two weeks prior to the SEC Tournament two of the only bats that were struggling were those of Drew Gilbert and Evan Russell.
Two players struggling in your lineup isn’t a big deal but the fact that they hit in the four and five hole— and that Tony Vitello seemed reluctant to alter the batting order— made the outfielder’s struggles more problematic.
However, Gilbert and Russell both turned in strong showings in Hoover, returning to form before the most important stretch of the season.
Gilbert, who looked lost the week before at South Carolina, was fantastic all week. The sophomore went 8-of-22 (.364) at the plate over the five game tournament, recording a team high five RBIs on the week and only one walk.
Russell’s numbers weren’t as strong as the senior hit just 5-for-20 (.250) but the power hitting right fielder recorded a double, three RBIs and a monster home run against Alabama.
The production of Gilbert and Russell to go along with a back half of the lineup that had three players hit over .290 made Tennessee’s lineup dangerous in Hoover. If Gilbert and Russell can sustain their success this weekend in the regional it’s hard to imagine Tennessee’s offense won’t put up some runs.
Two questions
How does Tennessee’s regional shape up?
Tennessee landed as the nation’s No. 3 overall seed but the Vols certainly weren’t rewarded with an easy regional. Tennessee will host three teams in the top 40 of RPI including perhaps the best four seed in the tournament in Wright State.
The Raiders bring one of the best statistical offenses in college baseball to Knoxville after going 35-11 (28-4 Horizon) so far this season. Wright State is a challenging first round game and is No. 25 in RPI but the Raiders capitalized on a weak conference and struggled when they left it, going just 3-7 against out of conference opponents and 1-7 against top 100 RPI teams.
Three seed Liberty is a familiar foe for the Vols. Tennessee lost its opening game of the Chapel Hill regional in 2019 to the Flames before later knocking them out of the tournament in a dramatic victory.
Liberty ranks No. 36 in RPI and despite going 19-2 in the ASUN regular season, the Flames fell in the conference tournament championship and earned an outright bid to the tournament. In the regular season Liberty was swept by TCU, won both midweek games against North Carolina, lost both midweek games to Duke, split midweek games versus Virginia and won lone midweek games against Wake Forest and Virginia Tech.
Duke rounds out the Knoxville Regional as the No. 2 seed. The Blue Devils had an odd regular season, going 32-20 (15-16 ACC). Duke struggled against most talented opponents in ACC play, getting swept by Miami and losing series to Boston College, Notre Dame, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Virginia and Louisville.
The Blue Devils found another gear down the stretch, however, sweeping Virginia Tech and Clemson to end the regular season and winning the ACC Tournament. Duke enters this weekend winners of 12 straight games and one of the hottest teams in the country.
2. How does Vitello and Anderson handle pitching?
If there was any doubt about whether Tennessee would use its ace Chad Dallas in the first game of the regional, facing a talented four seed like Wright State should put them to bed. Tony Vitello didn’t commit to starting Dallas in the regional opener when he talked to the media Monday but it’s hard to imagine that won’t be the case.
In the second game of the tournament I expect Tennessee to start Blade Tidwell. If you win the first two games of the regional you are sitting in the catbird seat the rest of the weekend and Tidwell has been magnificent over the past month, posting a 2.22 ERA in his last five starts.
As important as winning the opening game of the regional is, winning the second game is nearly as important and makes Tidwell a likely choice. Combine that with the fact that Will Heflin started the SEC Tournament title game on Sunday and would have to make his fourth straight start with less than a week’s rest to pitch on Saturday it seems very likely that Tennessee will turn to Tidwell in game two.
While I outlined how Camden Sewell has made himself the clear candidate to be the fourth starter this weekend, Vitello stressed the importance of having all hands on deck in the first game of the regional. We’ve seen Vitello be aggressive with his best bullpen arms all season and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him be aggressive with Sewell’s usage this week.
“For step one I think Camden needs to be available right away,” Vitello said. “The most important game in everybody’s season is the first one that’s coming up this Friday. For us, heading into the game with Wright State we’d like to have as many guys available. You probably want to hold back your starter for game two so he can prepare properly but we’re in that time of year. Starters need to be ready to relieve and relievers need to be ready to start.”
One prediction
Tennessee wins the Knoxville Regional
After months of build up the NCAA Tournament is finally here and with it postseason baseball returns to Lindsey Nelson Stadium for the first time since 2005.
While Tennessee received a difficult draw, I believe the real strength of the Knoxville Regional is its depth. If Tennessee can win its first two games it alleviates a lot of the stress of seeing all of the depth in the field.
The Vols’ opener against Wright State may be more nerve wracking than Tennessee would like but I think Tennessee gets past it and into the winner’s bracket after the opening game.
While the top-to-bottom talent in Knoxville will make this weekend a challenge, I don’t think anyone traveling to Knoxville is as talented as Tennessee and the Vols have shown time and time again this season that they take care of business when they’re the better team.
I think Tennessee does just that this weekend, advancing out of the regional for the first time since 2005 and hosting a super regional for the first time in the modern era of the NCAA Tournament.
