No. 1 Tennessee is back in the friendly confines of Lindsey Nelson Stadium this weekend.
Two weekends after hosting one top 25 team from the state of Alabama, the Vols will host another as they welcome No. 19 Auburn to Knoxville.
Ironically enough, the Tigers even mirror the Crimson Tide in the eyes of Tony Vitello.
“It’s a well-balanced team,” Vitello told the media Thursday. “I would compare it to Alabama. I know they’re from the same state and maybe they don’t like each other, but they’re coming off a hot streak like Alabama was when they came in here.
“Very well-balanced, coaches that took over kind of around the time that we did, and now they’ve got things rolling. So, it’ll be just as much of a battle as that weekend was. There’s some similarities there, but obviously Auburn is unique.”
Auburn (30-12, 11-7 SEC) arrives on Rocky Top having won seven in a row and 12 of the last 15. For the season, the Tigers have won 11 games away from Plainsman Park, which ties Tennessee (38-3, 17-1 SEC) for the most in the SEC.
To Vitello’s point of being well-balanced, they’ve scored the fourth-most runs in the SEC, they own the fifth-best ERA and are fifth in fielding percentage.
“We have a job to look at the entire weekend, but really it filters down to (Friday) night,” Vitello said. “It’s the first round and it’s the most important game. We’ll obviously have the tall task, of what everyone has had, of trying to get Sonny DiChiara out.
“He will be wearing a different color and he’s a huge threat. The numbers are off the charts and he sits in the middle of the lineup like a couple of our big thumpers do. But he’s also surrounded by guys, starting at the top, one of the best leadoff hitters in the league. It is a well-balanced attack. And then we’ll face a kid Hayden Mullens who is a lefty and came out of high school as a potential first rounder. He’s one of those kids from Tennessee that we were hoping to turn this program around with Tennessee kids. He selected Auburn and it’s turned out well for him, but he’s a tough lefty that we’ll see to start the game.”
DiChiara’s number’s are truly off the charts. The graduate transfer from Samford leads the country in on-base percentage, (.601), batting average (.448) and is fifth in slugging percentage (.856). He leads the SEC in walks and has reached base in all 38 games this season, and in 40 straight dating back to the end of last season.
Sophomore right-hander Joseph Gonzalez leads the pitching staff alongside Mullens. Gonzalez has asserted himself as one of the best pitcher’s in the SEC this season, compiling a record of 6-0 and ERA of 1.71 over 47.1 innings of work. He’s only allowed seven walks.
Gonzalez has turned in four straight quality starts in SEC play after pitching seven scoreless innings last Sunday against South Carolina. He’s won each of those four SEC starts as he’s compiled a 1.71 ERA in SEC play that ranks second in the conference.
“One of the reasons they’re having a successful year is they have that strength on the back-end,” Vitello said. “We fight tooth and nail to kind of know what our rotation is, but a lot of times it can be the draft, it can be an injury, but some of us are left with TBA on Sunday, or kind of a revolving door on Sunday. Last year was Blade Tidwell for us and this year it’s Drew Beam.
“For them it’s Gonzalez. His numbers are actually the best out of all their weekend starters. They’ve also got a closer (Blake Burkhalter) and I don’t know what the save record in the SEC is, but 11 is a lot. So we mentioned a well-balanced offensive attack, but they’ve also got guys that can get them to the fifth inning and keep them within range. Then they’ve always got left-handed pitching out of the bullpen, but some strength there at the end too.”
Tennessee and Auburn get underway Friday night at 7 p.m. ET on the SEC Network. Saturday’s game will also be at 7 p.m. ET on the SEC Network, while Sunday’s finale will start at 1 p.m. ET on SEC Network+.
