The Tennessee baseball team jumped out to an 18-1 start against its non-conference schedule in 2019. The Vols were led by an elite pitching staff and a solid lineup, but even during the hot start, it was apparent that Tennessee would have some challenges scoring runs against the elite pitching staffs of the SEC.
That showed up in full effect when the Vols were swept in its first conference series last week at Auburn.
Tennessee’s pitching staff held up to their end of the bargain against the Tigers, only giving up 12 run, four of which were unearned. However, the Vol bats were too quiet, as the lineup struggled to generate runs. They scored just five times as they lost three close ones.
Let’s take a look at the lineup’s shortcomings and which Vols need to show up for Tennessee to get back to playing winning baseball.
Tennessee’s lineup currently ranks ninth in the SEC with a batting average of .277 and an on base percentage of .42 that ranks fourth. The Vols have guys that can get on base but could use more consistency and guys that can give the Vols extra-base hits.
Tennessee’s lead off man Justin Ammons has been a bright spot for the team. Ammons on base percentage of .500 is one of the best in the SEC and the junior has reached base in all but one game this year for the Vols.
Tennessee’s best bats are junior college transfer Al Soularie and third baseman Andre Lipcius.
Soularie wasn’t an opening day starter, but it didn’t take the utility man too long to find his way into the Vols' lineup, bringing a swagger and confidence to the cleanup spot. Soularie is hitting .377 and leads the team with seven homers. He’s proved that he’s a legitimate SEC bat, something Tennessee desperately needed.
Lipcius was an established bat in Tennessee’s order heading into the season. Despite having a major slump to start the season, the junior has five home runs and a team high 23 RBIs. Lipcius and Soularie are reliable in the three-four spot, but Tennessee needs more solid batters around them.
Tennessee had a solid combo in the back-half of its lineup in Ricky Martinez and Luc Lipcius before Lipcius fractured his foot. Martinez, a junior college transfer, has been solid for the Vols hitting .375 with an on base percentage of .464.
Martinez struggled in his first two games against Auburn going 0-for-8, but showed life in game three recording three hits in the Vols loss. Martinez doesn’t bring a lot of pop to the table, but is a good seven hitter.
Lipcius was hitting .347 with four homers and 14 RBIs before his injury. He was a reliable bat in the eight spot and someone the Vols have greatly missed.
Pete Derkay has replaced Lipcius since his injury, but has struggled on the season just hitting 5-for-30 with a single RBI on a solo homer.
Freshman Max Ferguson has also gotten some run at first base, but is just hitting .222 on the season. The Atlantic Beach (Fla.) native looks like he’ll be a good batter for Tennessee down the road, but it doesn’t appear that the Vols can expect big results from him right now.
It doesn’t appear that Tennessee is going to get a lot of production from the catcher or second base spot. Landon Gray and Connor Pavalony share duties at catcher and have combined for 15-for-68 hitting on the season and just got one hit against Auburn.
Freshman Jake Rucker at second only provided one hit last weekend as well. Working around two spots where Tennessee won’t get much production is an issue and Tennessee needs some x-factors to step up.
Jay Charleston is almost a guaranteed stolen base base when he gets on base, as the junior is sixth in the country with 17 stolen bases on just 18 attempts. The Vols' two-hitter has struggled this year just hitting .253. If Charleston can pick it up it would be huge for the Vols lineup. It would also give Tennessee solid at bats one through four at the top of the order.
Evan Russell started the season red-hot for the Vols. He hit two homers early in the season and appeared on track to have a breakout sophomore year similar to Andre Lipcius’ last season. Russell has gone ice cold and was even benched for a game against Auburn.
The left fielder is average is down to .234 and is still at two home runs. Russell breaking out of his slump is going to be vitally important for Tennessee. Tony Vitello likes to tout his teams depth, but in just his second year it doesn’t appear that he has a lot of options in the dugout to contribute to the Vols lineup.
With a lack of production in two spots of the Vols lineup they need Evan Russell and Jay Charleston to take step forward in the rest of conference play.
Against Auburn, Tennessee’s pitching showed that it can play at a high level. But Tennessee still got swept in its opening weekend series. They need a step up from the bats if they’re going to win series in the loaded SEC.
