NASHVILLE — For the second week in a row, all eyes throughout college baseball were on No. 1 Tennessee as it traveled to No. 9 Vanderbilt for a three-game series.
Yet again the Vols delivered a monumental sweep, sweeping the Commodores for the first time since 2009. Tennessee did so by winning game one on Friday night 6-2, game two on Saturday night 5-2 and the series finale on Sunday 5-0.
We look back at the sweep and look ahead in the baseball 3-2-1.
THREE OBSERVATIONS
Tennessee’s rotation dominates yet again
Say what you will about Tennessee’s bats. Other teams still must hit UT’s pitching, and to this point in the season, it’s been nearly impossible to do so.
For the second weekend in a row, Tennessee’s starting rotation dominated. Chase Burns, Chase Dollander and Drew Beam combined to pitch 22.1 innings, allow just four runs, only give up two walks and strukeout 17 Commodores.
Burns set the tone on Friday night by pitching into the sixth inning. He allowed two runs on five hits, but still struck out a team-high seven on the weekend to improve to 6-0. Burns gave up just one walk.
Dollander and Beam managed to be even better on Saturday and Sunday, respectively. Dollander allowed just two runs over 8.0 innings of work and struck out six in the process. He gave up two solo home runs in the seventh, but still only allowed Vanderbilt to hit .115 off of him on the night.
Beam was the best of the bunch. The true freshman right-hander pitched a complete game shutout to close the series. It's the first complete game shutout from a Tennessee pitcher since Garrett Stallings did so on May 16, 2019 against Ole Miss.
The Murfreesboro, Tennessee native struck out just four, but only allowed two hits and didn’t allow a walk. Vanderbilt hit .071 off of Beam.
What was most impressive about Tennessee’s outing on the mound was the amount of strikes that were thrown. It’s been a common theme for this bunch, but it was yet again the case against Vanderbilt.
Burns, Dollander and Beam combined to throw strikes on 68% of their pitches. Individually, Burns threw strikes on 58 of his 88 pitches, while Dollander did so on 74 of his 105 pitches and Beam did so on 73 of his 110 pitches.
The Vols were also able to keep the bullpen fresh as a result of the starters pitching so well. Will Mabrey threw 23 pitches on Friday, Kirby Connell threw just three pitches and Camden Sewell threw 36. None of them would pitch the remainder of the weekend.
Redmond Walsh closed out Saturday’s game with 10 pitches and didn’t throw on Sunday as a result of Beam’s complete game. Blade Tidwell, Ben Joyce, Mark McLaughlin or Wyatt Evans didn’t even see action.
Offense continues to produce
Vanderbilt’s pitching was the best Tennessee has seen throughout a weekend series to this point in the season. The Vols didn’t put up eye-popping numbers like they have in recent weeks, but it still produced.
Tennessee scored at least five runs each game and only hit three home runs doing so. Luc Lipcius hit a two-run homer in game one to open up the scoring, while Trey Lipscomb made it 5-0 in the fifth inning of game two with a two-run homer. Drew Gilbert hit a long solo home run in the fourth inning of the series finale to get the scoring going.
Lipscomb, Gilbert and Lipcius were the three main catalysts for the Vols over the weekend. Lipscomb hit a team-high .455 for the series and drove in four runs, while Gilbert and Lipcius each hit .273 with three RBIs.
Jordan Beck only hit .231, but did drive in three runs. All of which came at crucial points.
Vols got the bat back
Speaking of Beck, he was the center of attention throughout the weekend after a first inning home run on Friday night did not count. The umpires deemed that his bat was illegal because it did not have the required sticker that indicated it had been tested and approved.
Beck and Vitello both said following the game on Friday that the sticker had fallen off during batting practice earlier that day.
Tennessee did receive the bat back on Sunday afternoon following the conclusion of the series. To this point, there is no indication that there was anything else wrong with Beck’s bat or that UT will face punishment for the situation.
TWO QUESTIONS
What do you do with Beam and Tidwell?
At this point, I’m not sure how you could pull Drew Beam from the rotation. Or Chase Burns. Or Chase Dollander.
It’s unfortunate for Blade Tidwell, as he was viewed as one of the best starting pitchers returning in the country coming into the season. But at this point, it just doesn’t seem like the best decision to bump anyone from the rotation.
That doesn’t mean Tidwell can’t still have a big impact on this team. He certainly still can. Whether that is as a long relief arm out of the bullpen or a guy who can put together a scoreless inning late in a close game.
More importantly, he can be built up to be a starter by the time postseason play rolls around. A fourth starter is a necessity in the postseason because of the way the tournament is set up in college baseball, and Tidwell can certainly fill that role exceptionally well.
When will Tennessee slip up?
It’s hard to see it happening any time soon. Tennessee is now 9-0 in SEC play for the first time in program history with its toughest series on the schedule now behind them.
The Vols will certainly lose a game at some point. Likely a series as well, but it shouldn’t happen in quite some time, at least when you look at things on paper.
Tennessee hosts Missouri and Alabama the next two weekends before traveling to Florida the third weekend of the month. Missouri and Florida are currently tied for last in the SEC East, while Alabama is tied for last in the SEC West.
A loss wouldn’t be the worst thing for Tennessee. It’s hard to see it coming any time soon though.
ONE PREDICTION
The Vols won’t lose a series in April
There’s some chatter about whether Tennessee is peaking too soon. It certainly could be, but this team feels more like a team that could go wire-to-wire than a team that will fizzle out after peaking too early.
Sure, there are some things that need to be cleaned up. They are minor things through and with how Tennessee’s pitching staff continues to get better, it’s hard to envision that we’ve seen the best version of this team.
The best start to SEC play ever was the 1994 Florida team that began 10-0. Tennessee will certainly break that record with a likely sweep of a poor Missouri team this weekend.
As for Alabama, Florida and Auburn to finish out the month, each is capable of stealing a series from the Vols, but each have significant deficiencies that Tennessee should be able to take advantage of.
