Tennessee's baseball team improved to 12-0 after sweeping the week, tying the program’s best-ever start. Tennessee defeated five different opponents last week, including some with success over SEC foes.
Let’s look back at UT's strong week and look forward to the Vols' final non-conference week before SEC play gets started.
THREE OBSERVATIONS
1. Vols turn in another dominant week — Tennessee matched the best start in program history this week by winning five games against five different opponents.
Tennessee won its five games by a combined score of 32-8. Just as impressive is how little the Vols trailed.
Liberty lead the Vols for five innings Tuesday night before Tennessee exploded in the fifth inning thanks to an Andre Lipcius home run. After claiming the lead, the Vols didn’t look back, going on to beat the Flames 7-1.
Western Kentucky pulled ahead of Tennessee 1-0 in the top half of the second inning of Saturday’s game. That lead didn’t last long either, as the Vols put a six spot on the Hilltoppers in the bottom of second.
Western Kentucky was able to tally a few more runs but never seriously threatened the Vols in the 6-3 win in seven innings.
Those two instances were the only times the Vols trailed this week, and besides Game 3 of the Indiana series, the Vols haven’t trailed anymore this season.
So it's pretty remarkable that in nine out of 12 games this season Tennessee hasn’t trailed.
2. Pitching comes back down to earth, kinda — Tennessee’s pitching staff had just surrendered four runs in the first eight games of the season. It was a staggering start that included five shutouts.
The pitching wasn’t going to stay that good, so the question became when it would fall off, and how far?
The answer was this week and not very far. Tennessee surrendered eight runs on the week, with seven of them coming this weekend in Pensacola.
The Vols weekend starters looked human in Florida but still turned in very solid performances.
Maybe the most encouraging part of the pitching this weekend was Zach Linginfelter, who threw seven innings, a season high, while walking only one batter. For a pitcher who has struggled with his command, to go deep into games is exciting for Tennessee.
Tennessee’s bullpen remained perfect on the year, as the group still hasn’t allowed a run.
The Vols even got some new faces involved this weekend, as talented freshman Elijah Pleasant’s got his first career action, pitching a scoreless ninth inning against North Florida.
Tennessee wasn’t facing Vanderbilt or LSU this week, but the solid, not perfect, efforts have to excite Tony Vitello.
3. How about the bats — For the first time this season, Tennessee had a weekend of consistently putting up big numbers.
The Vols averaged 6.4 runs a game this week and outside of the two-run performance against MTSU, Tennessee scored at least six runs every game.
That success starts at the start of the lineup.
Leadoff man Justin Ammons had an excellent week by going 9-of-17 with three walks and four RBIs.
No. 2 hitter Jay Charleston went 7-of-17 with five walks and five RBIs.
The Vols added some pop from the rest of the lineup to accompany the good hitting from the top of the order.
Tennessee came into the week with a total of five home runs. The Vols doubled that number this week getting two long balls from both Andre and Luc Lipcius.
Luc Lipcius leads the team with three homers on the year as he continues a solid opening month of the season. His play could really be an X-factor for the Vols as he returns to action after missing most of 2018 with an injury.
Tennessee isn’t going to beat too many teams in the SEC with its bats, but showing they don’t need the pitching to carry them every time out was a must.
TWO QUESTIONS
What level of competition did the Vols see this week?
Tennessee played five mid-majors this week and it’s hard to tell how impressive these wins are.
Liberty continues to have a very solid year. The Flames are 8-3 with their only losses coming to Tennessee and South Carolina. The win Tuesday, in my opinion, is the best of the young season for Tennessee, especially considering Indiana was missing some of its key guys.
North Florida was another good win, as the Ospreys’ currently hold an 8-5 record with a series win over Missouri and a mid-week win over Florida.
The three other wins, Louisiana Monroe, MTSU, Western Kentucky, are solid mid-majors but not great. All three teams are definitely better than Northern Kentucky and just as good if not better than Appalachian State.
Tennessee not dropping a game to teams that they are better than is impressive, but doesn’t guarantee SEC success.
I think Tennessee’s lack of big-time opponents prior to SEC schedule could backfire, and leaves people to be cautious in their optimism about this squad.
Tennessee has proven they’re a pretty good team with some potential, but we won’t fully find out what this team is made of until SEC play begins.
What does Vitello do with the DH spot?
Tennessee has spent most of 2019 with Pete Derkay at the DH spot, but junior college transfer Al Soularie has turned in good at-bats this year while Derkay has struggled early.
Soularie is hitting .333 with seven RBIs on the season, while Derkay is hitting .235 with only one RBI.
Soularie got four of his five starts on the season this week starting at the designated hitter spot against MTSU and Louisiana Monroe, and in left field against North Florida and Western Kentucky.
In Soularie’s two starts at left field, Vitello moved Evan Russell to the designated hitter spot.
Vitello has said there is no fixed plan for the DH spot and that while Derkay and Soularie are the two main competitors for that spot he sees the position as a way to keep a lot of guys involved.
ONE PREDICTION
Tennessee will go into SEC play undefeated
Tennessee has six games remaining before SEC play begins against Auburn on March 15th.
The Vols biggest threat in that stretch is this weekend’s match up with Fresno State. Fresno State is 6-3 on the year with an impressive win over Cal State Fullerton. But the Bulldogs also lost two out of three at home to a mediocre UNLV squad.
This also isn’t a program that’s at the same level they were 10 years ago when they made the College World Series. The Bulldogs are coming off a season where they struggled and posted a losing record in conference play.
Tennessee’s ability to win mid-week games is much higher now than the past couple of years.
The Vols' pitching depth is the strength of the team and Sean Hunley and Camden Sewell don’t seem to be guys that are going to get rocked by Troy or UNC Asheville.
Troy is currently 6-5 and UNC Asheville is 4-6.
The Vols have proven they can take care of lesser opponents, if they can do it six more times they’ll head down to The Plains 18-0.
I think they’re up to the task.
