The Baseball 3-2-1
KNOXVILLE — No. 1 Tennessee welcomed Alabama to town over the weekend after seeing its 23-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday night at Smokies Stadium to Tennessee Tech.
The Vols dropped game one to the Tide 6-3, but bounced back with a 9-2 win on Saturday, and 15-4 win on Sunday to claim the series.
We look back at the sweep and look ahead in the baseball 3-2-1.
THREE OBSERVATIONS
Concerns around the pitching staff
Tennessee’s pitching staff has been dominant all season long. As if they needed any help, the Vols appeared to be on the verge of getting even better for the second half of the season as they got healthier.
Following this weekend’s series against Alabama, however, that doesn’t seem to be as much the case.
Sophomore right-hander Blade Tidwell and Missouri transfer Seth Halvorsen were both viewed as key pieces to the pitching staff over the offseason, yet neither started the year healthy. Tidwell dealt with shoulder soreness while Halvorsen fractured his throwing arm during a bullpen over the winter.
Tidwell has since returned from injury, while Halvorsen was working towards an early-to-mid April return, but sources tell Volquest that Halvorsen has suffered a significant setback and will miss the remainder of the season.
On the heels of the Halvorsen news, Tennessee feared the worst on Saturday night when starter Chase Dollander exited the game after just one inning when his pitching elbow was struck by a line drive. Dollander had an MRI done during Sunday’s game which revealed no break.
The thought process with Dollander is that he’ll be back as soon as possible as he deals with swelling and soreness. All things considered, it’s great news for the Vols after initially fearing that the line drive had fractured his arm.
An inning later, Camden Sewell was struck in the heel by a line drive as well when relieving Dollander. Sewell went on to piece together a terrific four innings of work, but did so battling through pain. The senior right-hander was seen in a boot after the game as a result of a bone bruise.
Tony Vitello receives a four-game suspension
Both Tony Vitello and Frank Anderson were ejected in the first inning of Saturday’s game following the injury to Dollander. Vitello and Anderson were suspended for Sunday’s finale as a result.
Anderson’s suspension lasted just one game, while it was the first of a four-game suspension for Vitello. Anderson is only suspended for one game due to rules that state when an assistant is ejected, they receive an automatic one-game suspension.
Vitello’s suspension will last four games because he made contact with third base umpire Jeffrey Macias. It was handed down by the NCAA and he’ll be eligible to return next Sunday at Florida assuming there are no games cancelled between now and then.
Still, despite game two’s drama, Tennessee was able to respond in a big way. Particularly when you encapsulate the entire week as a whole.
Not only did the Vols lose their head coach, their pitching coach and the SEC’s leader in strikeouts, but it came after they saw their 23-game winning streak come to an end on Tuesday night to Tennessee Tech, and after they lost game one to Alabama 6-3 on Friday night.
All Tennessee did was respond. It did so by outscoring a top 25 Crimson Tide team 24-6 over the final two games of the series to avoid their first series loss of the season.
Beck, Lipscomb and Ortega lead the way
Jordan Beck, Trey Lipscomb and Jorel Ortega led the way offensively for Tennessee over the weekend. They were the only three Vols in the lineup to hit over .400, as Beck hit .417, Lipscomb hit .462 and Ortega hit a team-high .667.
The trio combined to go 19-for-37 at the plate over the three games while hitting seven home runs, tallying 16 RBIs, scoring 14 runs and drawing three walks. And in the field, none of them committed an error.
Beck — a Hazel Green, Alabama native — hit three home runs against his home-state team, while Lipscomb is now on track to break Tennessee’s home run and RBI record after hitting his 14th and 15th homers, and bringing his RBI total to 57 on the season.
It was Ortega who stood out the most, however, as the Vols second baseman put together a terrific weekend at the plate. The redshirt-sophomore was 8-for-12 against Alabama with two home runs, five RBIs and five runs scored.
Ortega has asserted himself as one of the main catalysts in Tennessee’s lineup.
TWO QUESTIONS
Will we see Blade Tidwell enter the rotation?
It certainly sounds like a possibility at some point after Vitello met with the media following Friday night’s loss.
“We’ve kind of floated that deal when those Thursday games pop up, maybe trying something,” Vitello said. “I think we're getting close to that guy who he (Tidwell) not only was last year, but I think he’ll be better, because he's more experienced. He's more physical. You know, all that good stuff.
“At some point in the rotation. You know, the one thing you’ve got with our schedule — and it popped up this weekend — you got the quirky Thursday TV stuff. So you know, things we've done before is, you know, shuffle things around because of that. Now, we're a couple of weeks away from that, but that's kind of been floated around in the office.”
Tidwell returned on March 30 after missing the first month and a half of the season. He has since put together 6.2 innings of work in seven appearances, allowing just two runs on seven hits. The sophomore right-hander hasn’t given up a walk and has struck out 15.
Following Dollander’s injury, it wouldn’t be too surprising to see Tidwell get the nod this weekend at Florida.
How concerning are Chase Burns’ recent struggles?
It’s fair to be concerned about Burns’ last two outings against Missouri and Alabama, but it’s also important to remember that as of now, it’s just a two-game sample size.
Burns’ struggles seem to stem from an inability to consistently throw a third pitch. Hitters are laying off of his slider and sitting on his fastball. It’s led to his two shortest outings of the season in back-to-back weekends, as well as a season-high four earned runs allowed against Alabama.
There is no fear of an injury with Burns despite his velocity being down once again.
ONE PREDICTION
Vols won’t skip a beat without their skipper
Tennessee certainly didn’t seem to skip a beat without Vitello or Anderson against Alabama on Sunday as it closed out the series with a 15-5 win.
Vitello will miss three of this week’s four games while he finishes out his suspension. He’ll miss Tuesday’s game against Bellarmine, as well as game one and game two of this weekend’s three-game series against Florida in Gainesville.
Still, Vitello will find a way to have his team ready to go this week. After all, the culture he has established is impeccable.