Tennessee sophomore pitcher Chase Dollander was a little nervous stepping into the Vols’ clubhouse back in the fall.

Dollander, who transferred from Georgia Southern to Tennessee following a standout freshman campaign, pitched against the Vols in just the second game of last season.

He was worried about what his new teammates would think after pitching against them.

“I was a little nervous walking into the locker room that I had just got done playing last year,” Dollander told Volquest. “But they took me in with open arms and I can’t ask for much more.”

Dollander struck out eight Vols that afternoon in Statesboro. Despite Southern losing the game, the right-hander allowed just one walk and one run on three hits in his first career start.

It was the first of many terrific outings for Dollander in his lone season at Southern. He went on to finish fourth on the team with 64 strikeouts and tied for third on the team with four wins as he earned Freshman All-American honors.

Dollander committed to Tennessee on June 13 over offers from Arkansas, Texas Tech and Ole Miss. It was a massive recruiting win for the Vols, yet Dollander was still a touch nervous about stepping into a locker room that was headed to Omaha.

The nerves didn’t last long when he arrived though. Thanks in large part to sixth-year senior Redmond Walsh talking Dollander under his wing.

“We hit it off from the jump and he’s been my throwing partner ever since,” Dollander said. “He’s always been a guy that I can go talk to, and whatever I need, it doesn’t matter what it is, he’ll be there for me.”

It didn’t hurt that in addition to Walsh's guidance, Dollander was now under the tutelage of pitching coach Frank Anderson.

“There was a little bit of an easing in process,” Dollander said. “The coaches didn’t know what I came from at Georgia Southern, so they wanted to take it easy on me. I didn’t throw in scrimmages for the first three or four weeks when I got here in the fall. Other than that it was smooth sailing.”

Dollander’s decision to transfer to the SEC has certainly paid off. The native of Evans, Georgia began the season in Tennessee’s starting rotation and hasn’t looked back.

In nine starts, Dollander is 6-0 with an ERA of 2.93. He leads the team with 72 strikeouts, has only allowed eight walks and is holding opponents to a .175 batting average.

Dollander has asserted himself as one of the best pitcher's in the country. He's done so with Anderson helping him out mentally more than anything else.

“He just always tells me that I’m one of those pitchers that has everything that anybody would want,” Dollander said. “I just took that and ran with it. He’s helped me get to that mentality of, ‘here it is, you can’t hit it.’

“Another thing we’ve worked on mechanically is having my hips open a little bit more, so we can throw more strikes and that’s what I’ve been able to do this year. Those two things are very important.”

Dollander missed his last start against Florida after his pitching elbow was struck by a line drive against Alabama the weekend prior. He avoided major injury though and isn’t expected to miss too much more time as he deals with swelling and soreness.

Dollander is excited to get back to work, because he knows that despite his move to the SEC paying off, there’s still plenty more to work on.

“It’s been pretty rewarding,” Dollander said. “There’s always stuff to get better at, so that’s kind of what I look at. I don’t really look at the stuff that happens during an outing. You look at it so you don’t get stuck in a hole, but you also want to look at the stuff you want to work on and there’s always something you need to work on. That’s how I take it and keep going about my business.”

Dollander knows exactly what he needs to work on, too.

“Developing that fourth pitch,” Dollander said. “Being able to get my curveball to not only land for strikes, but to be a strikeout pitch along with my slider and changeup would be really, really huge.

“Another thing would be to keep grinding physically. Just being able to get stronger and be mentally stronger as well.”

Another dominating putout pitch for Dollander to toy with is the last thing the rest of the SEC needs.

As for the Vols and Dollander, who have National Championship aspirations, it’s exactly what they want.