HOOVER, Ala. — AJ Russell is back for Tennessee baseball.

After missing a large chunk of the season, Russell made his return to the mound in the Vols' 13-4 loss to Vanderbilt on Wednesday.

In the game, he pitched a full frame while giving up one hit, hitting a batter and striking out a pair. He gave up no runs while leaving unscathed, as well.

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To Tony Vitello, the plan was always to have the right-handed pitcher go about 25-30 pitches in his return. This played well as he went 22 in his frame of work.

Led by pitching coach Frank Anderson, it was ultimately a group decision to pull him just short of the count instead of letting him begin another inning. This was a success as he got out of the inning without letting a run cross.

As Russell struck out the last batter he faced to strand a pair, he let out some emotion as he charged back to the dugout. While his goal wasn't necessarily to go out and dominate and rather to get a feel for where he's at, he admitted it was a confidence booster to have success right away.

"For the most part, I was mainly just kind of seeing how I was going to feel," Russell said. "I think that was the biggest part for me is runs are going to be given up, hits are going to be given up at some point, it's just kind of part of it. But I think it was huge for me. Also, just because it was a little bit of a confidence builder, as well. I think there's both sides to it."

With the goal of gauging how he feels, the sophomore hurler is pleased with where he's at. It's been a progression to this point, but he is starting to return to form.

With high expectations for himself, this means things went as planned.

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"I'm super happy with where I'm at right now and how I felt today, and I feel great right now," Russell said. "So I think the post stuff is really what tells me how I'm feeling and that kind of thing. I'm happy with it, and it went just about how I expected it to go."

The road to this point wasn't easy for Russell, but there's light at the end of the tunnel with his return to game action.

What's made things easier is being able to rely on the people around him. This isn't just friends and family but also coaches and teammates.

"I think the last few months have been tough just mentally and all that and getting through it," Russell said. "But the support has been huge just from everybody, friends, guys on the team, the coaches, parents, all that stuff."

While Russell came into the season as a starter that looked to go deep in games, he will have a different role as this season winds down. Instead of opening games, he'll be used to come in in certain spots for just a short amount of work.

This could be to close a game, get out of trouble or something in between as the pressure mounts in the postseason. This is similar to his role as a freshman where he came out of the bullpen in big moments as a reliable option.

This is something Russell and the staff have talked about. While his role of passing the baton and limiting himself on pitch count is different, he could still be a pivotal piece as the season closes.

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