Tennessee begins the second half of SEC play this weekend with a road trip to College Station to take on a middling Texas A&M team.
The sixth-ranked Vols are coming out of a successful and challenging two weekends that saw Tennessee split six games with Florida and Vanderbilt 3-3. Tennessee now enters the back half of conference play in the thick of the SEC East title race, with 30 wins and an excellent shot to host a regional.
As Tennessee enters a manageable three week stretch they’ll have to fully adjust to being the favorite and an opponent struggling SEC foes will be up for.
“Pete Derkay has played a lot of games at Tennessee and none of them have come with a preseason ranking (before this season) on his back or his teammates back,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said of his team becoming the hunted. “They’ve kind of dealt with it before and I think this last weekend, you dealt with everything that could be wrapped into one package so if they’re not ready they need to get a
better head coach I think. But in all seriousness, I think last weekend brought a lot of stuff to the table for our club. It doesn’t guarantee success when those situations pop up again, but I think by now they should be comfortable bathing in the fact that people think they're pretty good.”
Texas A&M enters the weekend with a 22-17 (4-11 SEC) record and a Sunday victory over No. 1 Arkansas. The Aggies lost the series in Fayetteville but showed well, losing the Saturday game by a single run.
Still, it’s been a disappointing season for Texas A&M as they’ve won just one SEC series (Georgia) and have lost three straight series entering the matchup.
On the mound, the Aggies’ pitching staff post a 3.96 ERA, good for eighth in the SEC.
Senior LHP Dustin Saenz will get the ball Friday night to open the series. Saenz has been inconsistent this season, tallying a 3.91 ERA and 71 strikeouts to just 16 walks. However, Saenz has struggled in SEC play, posting a 6.07 ERA in his five starts. Saenz will match up with Tennessee’s Chad Dallas.
RHP Bryce Miller will start Saturday’s game and has been a solid arm for the Aggies all season. Miller has posted a 3.21 ERA with 51 strikeouts and 17 walks. The flaw of the senior has been his inability to go deep into games. He has thrown just 33.2 innings in seven starts. With Miller matching up against Tennessee LHP Will Heflin, look for Saturday’s game to be a battle of the bullpens.
Texas A&M has experimented with three different Sunday starters in SEC play but seem to have settled on freshman Nathan Dettmer as he’s set to start the series finale for the third straight week.
Dettmer has a 3-1 record and 3.02 ERA but has struggled in his two SEC starts, allowing four earned runs in four innings against Arkansas and four earned runs in five innings against Alabama. Dettmer will match up with Tennessee freshman Blade Tidwell.
At the plate, the Aggies have been mediocre, ranking seventh in the SEC in homers and ninth in on-base percentage.
Texas A&M is led by a veteran core of hitters including senior Will Frizzell. Frizzell has a 352 batting average with 12 home runs and 31 RBIS. Frizzell has been even better in SEC play, posting a .379 batting average.
Redshirt senior Ray Adejo is the Aggies leadoff man, posting a .320 batting average and 11 stolen bases on 12 attempts. Unlike Frizzell, Adejo has struggled in SEC play, hitting just .262.
Austin Bost has been one of Texas A&M’s best hitters this season, posting a .315 batting average, six homers and 23 RBIs. Sophomore Logan Britt has been another power threat with five home runs on the season.
While the competition lessens this weekend for Tennessee, the Aggies have plenty of talent to win a home series over the Vols. Tennessee will look to show consistency with its fourth road series win of the season and its third in SEC play.
“Anytime you win at Baum Stadium, or any game on the road in the SEC it’s huge,” Vitello said. “We’ll pick up our scouting on them and I’ll know much more after tonight but to win that game on Sunday (at Arkansas) has got to be a shot in the arm to them and I think they won it in fairly dramatic fashion and they won a few tight games down
there too so they’re battle tested and like everyone, they’re hungry for their best baseball down the road. Nothing is going to be easy in this league, nothing is going to be easy on the road so when you combine the two it’s a good challenge for our guys.”
First pitch Friday night is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and can be streamed on SEC Network+. Saturday’s matchup is set for a 6 p.m. ET start and can be streamed on SEC Network+. Sunday’s series finale is set for 1 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on the SEC Network.
