The baseball 3-2-1
After the weather moved Friday night’s opener to Saturday, Tennessee and Texas A&M played 27 innings of baseball in just under 26 hours. There were plenty of mistakes to clean up for the Vols, including two costly four plus run innings, but Tennessee’s offense answered the bell and helped push Tennessee to the series win.
Let’s take a look back at an exciting weekend of baseball while looking forward to what the Vols can take from their weekend in Texas.
Three Observations
1 —Tip of the cap to Connor Pavolony— Pavolony took a 95 MPH fastball to the hand in Tennessee’s Saturday win over Vanderbilt. At first glance, it looked like Tennessee might have lost its junior catcher for the season. Then X-rays revealed that Pavolony’s hand wasn’t fractured and it seemed likely Pavolony might miss a week or two.
Instead, seven days after the injury, Pavolony played a full 18 innings of a double header and played every inning of the weekend series.
The Woodstock, Georgia native took it as a challenge to be ready to play this weekend and worked incredibly hard to get back in time for the series. Pavolony had shown his toughness all season— starting every SEC game until the series finale versus Vanderbilt and playing on a banged up knee against Georgia— still, this weekend was a
different animal and the fact that he was able to catch the whole series says a ton about his toughness.
Just playing would have been impressive from Pavolony but the junior was effective too, going 3-for-14 at the plate with a walk and two home runs.
Pavolony’s .231 batting average was one of the lowest for Tennessee on the big offensive weekend but he was productive at the plate and didn’t give the Vols nothing at the plate.
The catcher’s power could be something to watch going forward too. Pavolony hit four homers in the shortened 2020 season but hadn’t hit any this season entering the Florida series. Now in the last three weekends, Pavolony has four long balls and has helped be a part of a Tennessee power surge over the past two weekends.
2 —Dallas turns in third straight strong start— Chad Dallas was excellent in the two week gauntlet against Florida and Vanderbilt and has been really solid at home in SEC play allowing six earned runs in 21 innings pitched (2.57 ERA).
The only negatives for Dallas had been two shaky road SEC starts where he gave up six earned runs in 6.1 innings against Georgia (Dallas gave up some damage as Vitello left him in to save the bullpen with a big UT lead) and three earned runs in 3.2 innings against Alabama.
Back in his home state, the Orange, Texas native proved he could get the job done on the road, throwing seven innings while allowing just five hits, one run and zero walks while striking out five.
Dallas showed the consistency that is so important for a SEC Friday night starter turning in his third straight strong start and his fourth in his last five starts.
The redshirt-junior may not be as good as the very top Friday night starters in the SEC but he isn’t very far down the list at this point as he’s started to get into a groove.
Don’t sleep on Dallas’ ability to go deep in games either, the right hander has pitched less than six innings just once in SEC play and has thrown seven innings four times now, helping Tennessee save its thin bullpen from heavy Friday night action.
3 —Bullpen continues to look shaky— So about the bullpen, that group had some struggles this weekend in College Station, including a four run seventh inning that blew game two of the series for the Vols.
That four inning seventh inning came off of Kirby Connell in what was the sophomore’s second bad weekend appearance.
The trouble started for Tennessee before the seventh though. Starter Will Heflin was run from the game in the fourth inning and reliever Mark McLaughln ran into trouble in the fifth inning, forcing Tony Vitello to turn to Connell far earlier than he normally does.
Tennessee has been able to pitch just five relievers in SEC play because, for the most part, Sean Hunley and Kirby Connell have been really good and have been able to give Tennessee three to five innings a weekend.
If they can't do that, and Tennessee doesn’t expand its bullpen, McLaughlin, Sewell and Walsh have to be really solid for the Vols with at least one taking on a bigger role.
Even with Hunley being good, he’s consistently been throwing 25 plus pitches three times a week— midweek and two weekend games. That doesn’t feel completely sustainable and Sewell, in particular, makes a lot of sense to eat more innings.
And on the expanding the bullpen note, Tennessee didn’t throw a single person outside of the five person group despite having a 13 run lead in the ninth inning Sunday.
Two Questions
1. Has the offense found its groove?
Tennessee’s offense hasn’t quite matched the preseason expectations for much of the season as the Vols have created an identity of grinding out at-bats, working walks and getting deep into bullpens.
However, the past two weekends we’ve seen Tennessee’s power hitting come alive as they’ve hit 17 home runs compared to just 10 in the first four SEC series. That’s one area where Tennessee’s offense has improved, but not the only one.
Tennessee’s 31 run weekend was the best weekend for the offense all season. On top of the power surge, the Vols got contributions up and down its lineup and the middle of Tennessee's lineup led the way after struggling the last few weekends.
Evan Russell slid into Jordan Beck’s five spot and the three-four-five of Jake Rucker, Drew Gilbert and Russell was fantastic this weekend, combining to hit 19-of-42 (.452) with three home runs, six doubles and 16 RBIs
Hitting in the nine hole, Beck had a solid weekend too, going 3-for-11 with a homer.
The strong hitting was not limited on the weekend though, Tennessee had seven players hit over .300 and even those who weren’t great statistically contributed. Pavolony (.231) had two homers and Max Ferguson (.167) hit a home run and drove in four runs with his two hits.
Tennessee likely won’t hit the ball as well as they did this weekend again, but the power in the bats could easily be sustainable as the weather gets hotter and as Tony Vitello says, more guys are starting to relax and be themselves.
2. What’s up with Blade Tidwell?
Blade Tidwell hit the ground running in his freshman season taking a 1.80 ERA into conference play. Tidwell hit the ground running in SEC play, allowing just three earned runs in 13 innings against Georgia and LSU.
The last four starts have seen Tidwell struggle, however, and what’s been odd about it has been the complete opposite ways he’s struggled.
Against Alabama and Florida, Tidwell didn’t have his best stuff and got hit around from the get-go. Still, Tidwell battled in both those starts giving Tennessee five innings and the lead when he exited in both games.
Despite not being his best against Alabama and Florida, Tidwell showed incredible mental toughness for a freshman, pushing through to give Tennessee chances to win.
The last two starts have been near polar opposites. Tidwell has looked really strong in early innings besides lone solo homers in the first inning against both Vanderbilt and Texas A&M. From the first inning solo homers, Tidwell has been able to get into a groove but has fallen apart on a whim.
Against Vanderbilt, it was Dominique Brafield’s two-out hit and stolen bases that led to a third inning blow up from the freshman.
Against Texas A&M, nothing seemed to spark the downfall but the right hander struggled mightily when he came out for the fifth inning, walking two batters and crossing up Connor Pavolony twice on his way to giving up four earned runs in the inning.
Tidwell’s poor stretch has gotten long enough that it’s concerning and the difference in his struggles is what makes it so confusing.
Either way, Tennessee needs Tidwell to return to his early season form and be a strong number two pitcher for this rotation. I called him the most important player on Tennessee’s roster at the start of SEC play and I stand by it now.
With Tidwell rolling, Tennessee has two really good starters and can overcome Heflin and the bullpen’s limitations. If Tidwell struggles I’m not sure this team has the pitching to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
One Prediction
Tennessee sweeps Kentucky
Tennessee comes back to Knoxville this weekend for its first of two Thursday-Saturday series this season, facing Kentucky in the three game set.
Kentucky has been a positive surprise in SEC play as the Wildcats sit at 9-9 and still in the NCAA Tournament hunt six weeks into SEC play.
Kentucky’s record is a bit misleading though as they’ve racked up five wins against conference bottom feeders Auburn and Missouri. On top of that, Kentucky has a brutal schedule to end the season with matchups against the top four in the SEC East— at Tennessee, vs. Florida, vs. South Carolina and at Vanderbilt.
Sweeping anybody in the SEC is a tough task, but I think Tennessee turns in a strong and clean weekend of baseball at Lindsey Nelson Stadium to get the sweep of the Wildcats and keep itself in a prime position at, or near the top, of the SEC East standings.