Published May 3, 2021
The baseball 3-2-1
Ryan Schumpert
Volquest.com

Tennessee went 2-2 on the week, dropping a midweek game to Lipscomb before taking two of three over Kentucky for the Vols’ sixth SEC series win in seven tries.

Let’s take a look back at a relatively drama free weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium and take a look forward to Tennessee’s road trip to Missouri.

Three Observations

1 —Midweek pitching falters— I’m not one to make a big deal about what happens in midweek games, especially during SEC play. Which is why I don’t make a huge deal of Tennessee’s 4-1 loss to Lipscomb.

You don’t want losing midweek games to become a common occurrence but a random midweek loss is just a blip on the radar.

However, there was something that felt worth writing about from Tennessee’s loss and that was the struggles of the pitching.

Giving up four runs and six hits usually isn’t a huge negative but Lipscomb jumped on Tennessee and pitchers Jason Rackers and Elijah Pleasants. If it weren’t for a combined six scoreless innings from Mark McLaughlin and Camden Sewell, the Bison very well could have opened up a much larger lead on Tennessee.

I’ve written multiple times about how Tennessee needs to expand its bullpen past the five arms they’ve been reliant on every weekend series, but to be blunt those pitchers haven’t been consistent enough in midweek games to give Tony Vitello much confidence that they can be successful in SEC play.

Rackers had been solid but not crisp in his three midweek appearances before Tuesday, allowing two runs, just one of which was earned. Against the Bison, Rackers struggled allowing three runs, one earned run and three hits in 1.1 innings.

Pleasants didn’t allow any earned runs but let the runners he inherited from Rackers score, allowing two hits and a walk while surrendering just one batter.

Again, I don’t think the midweek struggles are a massive deal, and I still think Rackers will be a guy Tennessee relies on in the postseason, but that’s two times in the last three weeks that multiple weekend relievers have had to throw a plethora of innings to help

Tennessee win midweek games.

That’s not ideal and with matchups against two of the SEC’s best hitting teams— South Carolina and Arkansas— to end the regular season, Tennessee needs all its weekend arms fresh entering those weekend series.

2 —Beck and Ferguson have breakout weekends— Max Ferguson was Tennessee’s most highly touted player entering the season earning a plethora of preseason All American awards. Tony Vitello has called Jordan Beck “different” multiple times and the sophomore may have the highest ceiling of any Tennessee player at the plate.

Both players have had overall disappointing seasons with Ferguson entering the weekend hitting .231 and Beck hitting .239. Both had been on a bit of an uptick entering the weekend and the talented duo shined against the Wildcats.

Ferguson went 4-for-11 at the plate, walking four times, striking out once and driving in a run. It was the second baseman’s best weekend of SEC play as he slowly but surely starts to look better at the plate. He exits the weekend with a .241 batting average and 381 on-base percentage.

Beck looked the best he has all season at the plate, even better than he did at the start of the season when he was hitting .324 through nine games. The sophomore went 7-of-13 at the plate against Kentucky, tallying two doubles, a homer and four RBIs.

The right fielder was seeing the ball much better this weekend, striking out just one time. That’s an area that’s been a major weakness for him.

One weekend is a small sample size, but Beck hitting his stride and giving Tennessee a reliable power hitter in the middle of the lineup would be a huge boost. The Vols have a plethora of player’s whose power hitting has been breaking through as of late but Beck’s

potential and ability to go deep is the highest of all of them.

3 —Tidwell and Walsh shut down Kentucky on Saturday— Tennessee entered Saturday’s series finale in its third straight series rubber match, looking to improve upon its 3-1 rubber match record in SEC play.

While the 11-2 final score indicates a dominant Tennessee victory, the Vols lead just 4-1 for most of the game and just 4-2 before the seven run sixth inning blew the game open.

While the offense provided the fireworks in the sixth inning, Tennessee’s pitching delivered the drama free Sunday victory, with two guys who have struggled in SEC play leading the way.

Sunday starter Blade Tidwell had struggled in four straight Sunday starts dating back to the series finale win at Alabama. The freshman was really solid against the Wildcats though getting the job done allowing just four hits, two runs and one earned run in 5.1 innings of action.

Tidwell wasn’t his best, tying his season high with three walks, but he did a better job fighting through adversity and putting Tennessee in a prime position to win when he exited the game.

LHP Redmond Walsh took the ball from Tidwell in the sixth inning and took Tennessee the distance, allowing just one baserunner via an error in 3.2 scoreless innings.

Walsh has quietly been better the last few weeks, allowing just one earned run in his past 7.2 innings of SEC action. The senior believes his attempt to implement a cutter into his arsenal was negatively affecting his changeup, Walsh’s best put away pitch. With the former Alcoa standout leaving the cutter behind he believes he’s returning to old form.

“I think I was trying not to be who I was,” Walsh said. “I was trying to add a cutter to attack lefties with. It was causing me to cut the ball on my changeup and that’s who I’ve always been— I’ve been a fastball, changeup guy, flip in a couple curves. When I started developing the cutter it started hindering my changeup so over the last couple weeks I’ve taken away the cutter and the changeup is slowly starting to come back and I’ve kind of gotten back to who I was two years ago.”

I really like the idea of Walsh being Tennessee’s first reliever on Sunday’s after Tidwell’s start. Walsh was so effective in 2019, in part, due to the fact that he saw a plethora of innings following Tennessee hard throwing right hander Andrew Schultz.

Tidwell is Tennessee’s best power arm and I think using the soft throwing lefty right after him could play really well. I think it also makes it conceivable that Walsh can go through an opponent's lineup one full time, something I’m not sure he can do consistently

otherwise.

Two Questions

1. When do we see Pavolony return?

Tennessee catcher Connor Pavolony started all three games at Texas A&M after taking a 95 MPH fastball off the hand against Vanderbilt the week before.

It appeared that Tennessee had dodged a bullet with a potential long term injury. However, the junior’s hand started bothering him taking batting practice before the Lipscomb game.

X-rays came back revealing a small fracture on Pavolony’s hand and that was enough to sideline him the entire series against Kentucky.

So how long will it take the fracture to heal and Pavolony to return to Tennessee’s lineup?

Vitello indicated that Pavolony would be reevaluated in the middle of the week and that the plan is for him to travel to Missouri this weekend and contribute in some way.

There could obviously be a setback with Pavolony’s checkup this week but overall that seems like a very good sign. I’m not saying the junior backstop will start every game in Columbia but if he travels with the intent being able to contribute I believe he’ll at least start one game.

Pavolony isn’t the type of guy to be able to play and just be used as a pinch hitter or emergency catcher. I’m not saying it’s impossible for Vitello to use him in that role but if Pavolony is cleared to play and some emergency role is Vitello’s plan for him I expect he’ll receive some pushback from Pavolony.

Whatever Pavolony’s role looks like in Columbia it seems as if the fracture really isn’t a massive deal and that he should be 100% by postseason play.

2. Can the bottom of Tennessee’s order stay productive?

Tennessee started the same lineup every game this weekend with the six through nine spots in the order being Luc Lipcius, Jordan Beck, Pete Derkay and Jackson Greer.

Those four were excellent for Tennessee all weekend giving the Vols’ consistent offensive threats.

I’ve already touched on Beck’s big weekend and I almost don’t consider him fully part of this group as I think he could very easily be moved back to the middle of the lineup.

The three seniors of Lipcius, Derkay and Greer may not be the biggest names or hottest draft commodities on Tennessee’s roster but they were all great at the plate this weekend.

Derkay went 4-for-10 at the plate driving in a run, Lipcius went 4-of-13 at the plate with three homers and Greer was impressive in his first full weekend against SEC competition, hitting 4-for-13 with two long balls.

I had said two weeks ago that I didn’t think Greer starting at catcher for an injured Pavolony was much of a drop off at the plate and through four starts it may be an upgrade. The ETSU catcher has homered three times in four SEC starts but his production hasn’t been limited to the long ball.

The top half of Tennessee’s order doesn’t have the power to match up with the best in the conference but when the Vols are clicking they can keep the pressure on teams one to nine.

“Now that guys are settling in and starting to play ball we’re starting to get to that point I talked about preseason to you all that I really want here again— a comment at Round Rock last year, someone said it’s almost like you can flip your lineup upside down and

it’s kind of the same thing,” Vitello said. “I think we have that ability to have balance of guys who get on base and guys who can punish or drive the baseball up-and-down the lineup as long as they just show up to the ballpark and play and they’ve been doing that as of late. I hope they continue to.”

You probably aren’t going to see Tennessee’s six through nine hitters hit six homers most weekends but if those guys can get on base more consistently while flashing the power they have the last few weeks, we can see a dangerous UT lineup that can go toe-to-toe with some of the better teams in the SEC.

One Prediction

Tennessee sweeps Missouri

Tennessee concludes its manageable three week stretch with a weekend series at Tony Vitello’s alma mater, Missouri.

Missouri has been one of, if not the, worst team in the SEC this season compiling a 12-29 (5-16 SEC) record. The matchup marks Tennessee’s last series against a non ranked team as the Vols will host No. 1 Arkansas and travel to South Carolina the last two weekends of the regular season.

That puts the pressure on UT to have a strong weekend and if the Vols want to win a SEC East Championship they probably need to pull off a sweep of the Tigers.

Missouri has won just one SEC series and has been swept three times in conference play. I think Tennessee will come out the gates hot and locked in this weekend and will pick up a series sweep to improve to 17-7 in SEC play with six games to go.