The baseball 3-2-1
Tennessee took the weekend series over SEC East rival Florida, winning the first two games in come from behind fashion before blowing a chance at the sweep Sunday as the Gators came back from down three in the seventh inning to win.
Let’s look back at the weekend series and look forward to a massive matchup against Vanderbilt.
Three Observations
1 —This team just keeps on finding a way— I predicted Tennessee to drop its
first series of SEC play against Florida, in part due to the fact that I felt Tennessee was due for some close losses and the Gators presented UT with its biggest challenge to date.
I knew it wasn’t simply luck that Tennessee was winning so many close games but I think I underestimated the toughness and determination of this team.
Every time Florida threw something at them this weekend, Tennessee seemed to have an answer.
This is a team that’s sum is greater than its parts right now and truly believes it can win any game, no matter who it’s against and what the odds are. That winning mindset is incredibly infectious and Tennessee just seems to make the plays when they need it the most.
“We’re going to win. Period,” Connor Pavolony said postgame Saturday. “Anyway we have to. Anyway we have to get it done. We can be down five, we can be down 10, we can be down three like we were tonight and at the end of the day I think you see it a lot we play for each other.”
That doesn’t mean Tennessee is going to win every close game, and that was evident Sunday. High level SEC hitters are going to make big hits and sometimes you’re going to run into a pitcher dealing like Christian Scott was for the Gators.
Still, I would give Tennessee over a 50-50 chance in any close game.
2 —Dallas bounces back— Tennessee’s pitching had its biggest struggles of SEC play against Alabama and while the bounce back results were mixed for Sean Hunley and Blade Tidwell, Chad Dallas bounced back in phenomenal fashion.
Dallas didn’t make it out of the fourth inning against the Crimson Tide but came back and looked like the SEC Friday night starter he’s been for most the season against Florida.
The junior allowed just seven baserunners in seven innings and turned in an incredibly impressive 11 strikeouts to zero walks. Dallas gave up three runs on a trio of solo homers but that comes with pounding the strike zone at the rate he does.
Dallas doesn’t have the stuff to consistently dominate a high level offense like Florida but the Vols can live with the solo homers. That’s better than the alternative of a big inning, which he gave up at Alabama, that flips the momentum of the game.
It’s obvious that Tennessee needs Dallas to be good going forward but next week’s will be absolutely massive in deciding the series. Vanderbilt has the clear pitching advantage Saturday and Tennessee does Sunday (albeit a much smaller gap then the Saturday matchup).
If Tennessee wants to win its fifth straight SEC series Dallas needs to go toe-to-toe with Kumar Rocker, the likely number one pick in this June’s MLB Draft.
3 —Tennessee takes advantage of its offensive opportunities— I wrote last week that Tennessee has to take advantage of its offensive chances if it wants to win series with the Florida’s and Vanderbilt’s of the world.
The Vols did just that this weekend, taking advantage of nearly every Florida defensive mistake and scoring opportunity.
Tennessee scored eight of its 17 runs this weekend with two outs including four runs on Friday night.
When Florida’s pitching staff started to unravel Saturday it looked like Tennessee wasn’t fully going to take advantage as Drew Gilbert grounded into a double play. Then Tennessee responded with three straight hits to not only take the lead but to give themselves some cushion that they would end up needing.
Tennessee was able to do that by getting contributions from a plethora of players and that has to be the most encouraging thing for Vitello and his staff. Jake Rucker and Drew Gilbert combined to go just 3-for-23 on the weekend.
Evan Russell and Luc Lipcius were both really solid at the plate and Max Ferguson and Connor Pavolony both showed signs of life, turning in their best weekend of SEC play.
Two Questions
1. Does Vitello expand the bullpen?
Through the first four series of SEC play, Vitello has been really tight with his bullpen mainly using just five guys— Sean Hunley, Kirby Connell, Mark McLaughlin, Camden Sewell and Redmond Walsh.
That strategy has been effective for Tennessee but how viable is it long term?
I think Tennessee can keep using those five and win SEC series but for the Vols to have postseason depth they have to add more arms to the rotation.
Connor Housley made his SEC debut Sunday and looked good, finishing off a Walsh’ at-bat with a strikeout and getting a fly out to strand a runner on second. Vitello talked postgame about him being someone they will rely on going forward but I think Tennessee needs at least one, if not two more arms, to step up and be options.
Jason Rackers and Will Marbrey seem like the most obvious cases as they have the talent and are returning from injuries.
The challenge for Vitello has been finding times to give them opportunities. Since Tennessee’s SEC opening win over Georgia nearly every game has been tight with the Vols playing in just one game decided by more than three runs and that was Tennessee’s 8-4 extra innings win over Alabama.
I have a hard time thinking Vitello really opens up and gives new pitchers opportunities this weekend against Vanderbilt. However, after the Vanderbilt series Tennessee’s schedule opens up a bit and I think you’ll see him expand some opportunities then.
2. Can Tennessee keep handling success?
Tennessee has been in the top 10 for a good portion of the season and were No. 4 in a plethora of polls this week.
Still, the spotlight on this program is going to hit another level this week. Any who doubted Tennessee due to its lack of big name out of conference competition and its weaker schedule to start SEC play has to take the Vols seriously after a series win, and near sweep, over Florida.
Tennessee will be ranked in the top five of every poll this week and may be higher than that in a lot of places.
Put simply, that isn’t a place this Tennessee program has been in a long time.
So can Tennessee handle its continued success and the spotlight that will be on Lindsey Nelson Stadium this weekend with first place in the SEC East on the line?
I think they absolutely can. This team seems far from satisfied with what they’ve accomplished and they really don’t seem to get caught up in the rankings or all of the “first time since…” this team is achieving.
I think they’ll mentally stay as the hunter this week as their instate rival that is the defending national champion and considered by most to be the nation’s best comes to Knoxville.
One Prediction
Tennessee’s pitching gives it every chance to take series over Commodores
Vanderbilt comes to Knoxville for a top five showdown with the winner leaving as the favorite to win the SEC East. This weekend’s series will be the biggest at Lindsey Nelson Stadium since… ? Someone that’s older than me is going to have to answer that question but it seems like the biggest in at least 20 years.
Vanderbilt looked human this past weekend with Kumar Rocker struggling and the Commodores dropping their first SEC series to a lackluster Georgia team.
The Commodores are really banged up right now with three starting position players missing time this past weekend and a pair of bullpen arms injured. If there’s a criticism of Vanderbilt it’s that its lineup hasn’t been elite this season and they really struggled at the plate this weekend against Georgia.
I think Tennessee’s pitching staff will turn in a really solid weekend and give the Vols every chance to take the series.
Will Tennessee’s offense be able to scratch off enough runs to beat Rocker or Jack Leiter? That’s what I don’t know. It’s hard to imagine Rocker struggles for the second straight start and Leiter has been as dominant as anyone I can remember at the college level.
Tennessee got the timely hitting this weekend and they’ll need all of it again next weekend against the Commodores.