Blade Tidwell made his highly-anticipated debut on Wednesday night when No. 1 Tennessee hosted Western Carolina.
Shoulder soreness stemming from shoulder tightness cost Tidwell the first month and a half of the season. Having checked off the boxes to make a return, the sophomore right-hander did so in the sixth inning of the Vols' 11-1 win over the Catamounts.
"I wanted to help my team win," Tidwell said following the game. “My arm feels great. It wasn’t the outing I would have liked to have had, but it was nice being out there with my guys again. It was fun.”
Tidwell was greeted by a triple off a fastball he left over the middle of the plate to Western Carolina third baseman Zach Ketterman. Catamounts' first baseman Will Prater then doubled down the line on a slider Tidwell missed with to score Ketterman.
It was the only run Tidwell gave up. After a Trey Lipscomb throwing error, Tidwell struck out back-to-back Catamounts and got a pop up to centerfield to end his inning of work.
"His first two pitches sucked," Tony Vitello said. "And then after that, I thought he was great. We made a defensive mistake behind him, their best hitter without a doubt, a guy who can hit anybody in the entire country, and no disrespect to the other hitters, that’s just my opinion, it was a good two-strike pitch — the guy just got him… but after that, Blade rolled.”
Tidwell threw 20 pitches in his first inning back. 13 were strikes and his fastball was up to 97 mph.
“I thank God," Tidwell said. "I’ve been working hard to get my arm back to where I wanted it to be and it felt really good out there tonight. I think it’s just going to keep progressing.”
Most importantly for Tidwell, not only did his shoulder feel good when he was out there on the mound, but it felt good after his outing as well."
"It’s key to just get out there," Vitello said. "Now he’s in the mix and that’s why guys were hootin’ and hollerin’ in the outfield. They know how hard he’s worked, too. If you look at his body, he’s more physical than he was. They guy’s been working like a maniac. He’s been Ben Joyce 2.0 and by that, I mean just his routines and his work ethic have been phenomenal.
"I think he’s built himself up where he’s not only healthy, but he’s actually come back with a stronger and more durable body.”
Tidwell was Tennessee's Sunday starter as a true freshman last season. He led the team with 18 starts in helping the Vols get back to Omaha.
The Loretto, Tennessee native finished 10-3 with a 3.74 ERA (best among starting pitchers) and finished second on the team with 90 strikeouts and 98.2 innings pitched. His 10 victories were the second most by a freshman in program history.
As Tidwell returns to the mix in his second year, he'll do so coming out of the bullpen to start.
“No special role," Vitello said of Tidwell's return. "He’s now thrown one inning, so the next time, it could be one-plus and then a time or two after that, we’ll see how it goes. It could be two or three.
"Once he’s built up his pitch count, now he might be a guy that takes the ball from a guy and finishes it, if it’s the middle of the game. Or eventually will put himself in the conversation to where he’s a potential starter for us.”
Still, Tidwell could reclaim a starting spot in the rotation. But Vitello will cross that bridge, if, and when it comes.
"It's just going to have to make sense for whatever the particular time is," Vitello said. "If that ever becomes an issue, it’ll be a good problem to have, but we’re weeks away from being in any kind of crazy situation where we don’t know what to do with good arms."
For Tidwell, he welcomes the competition. Ultimately, he feels it will be best for the team in the long run.
“A little friendly competition is great for the team," Tidwell said. "You only get it when you see really good teams and I think we’re a really good team. It’s great that we have competition.”
Tennessee is back in action this weekend against No. 9 Vanderbilt. The Vols and Commodores will kick off a three-game series in Nashville on Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
