On Sunday afternoon, Tennessee baseball will meet LSU in the SEC Tournament championship game.
Prior to the matchup, VolReport spoke with Luke Hubbard of Death Valley Insider on Rivals.com to get a feel for the game.
Here's what he had to say.
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What's led to the team's hot-streak in the tournament?
The Tigers came into the SEC Tournament on a bit of a heater, winning 10 of their last 15 SEC games in the regular season. During that stretch, Gage Jump and Luke Holman got hot, making LSU nearly undefeatable on Friday and Saturday. Those two threw great games to begin the tournament, but the bats really came alive in their last two wins. Their offense has been inconsistent throughout the year, but they saved their best ball for the best time.
What does the pitching situation look like?
I spent some time after their win on Saturday going over who I think will be available for the championship game and this is the list I came up with: Griffin Herring will 100% pitch Sunday, it’s just a matter of when he’ll come in. I suspect Nate Ackenhausen, who threw 35 pitches on Thursday, will get the start (or come in at some point) and Herring will follow. After that, I think Jay Johnson is going to play the matchup game, but I’d expect to see any of Fidel Ulloa, Justin Loer, Will Hellmers and possibly Christian Little as well.
What was the reaction after the dramatic win over South Carolina?
"The reaction, as you can imagine, was overwhelmingly positive. I hate to say it, but there were a lot of people, including some in our message board, who were calling Jay Johnson overrated and were questioning his abilities after the series in Knoxville. However, this run they’ve made late in the season/in the SEC Tournament has completely turned their hopes and expectations around, especially after overcoming an 8-0 deficit and whatever the heck happened at the end with catchers interference."
Has this run reunited the fanbase/brought new life around the program?
I kind of touched on this in the last one, but I would certainly say this has united the fanbase. There were people who thought Johnson was overrated and people who thought those people were crazy. Today though, all I’ve seen are people losing their minds about how they came back and overcame the umps interesting decisions.
Who has had the hot bats in the lineup?
The hot bats in the lineup are mainly Michael Braswell, Steven Milam and Tommy White. Braswell is hitting near .500 with two homers and six RBI’s since the start of the tournament. White came into the tournament on a heater, but has cooled down a bit, but he’s Tommy White and he’s a threat to go 3-for-4 with a pair of homers every game. Finally, Steven Milam, the freshman from New Mexico, has been as hot as anyone in the country. He’s 9-for-18 with six RBI’s and just hit the walk off homer against South Carolina. Don’t let his small size fool you, dude can slug.
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