The Vol baseball 3-2-1
Tennessee built off its strong SEC opening weekend at Georgia, returning home and going 4-0 including a three-game sweep of No. 22 LSU with the Vols winning two games in walk off fashion. Let’s take a look back at the successful week and take a look forward to another opportunity at Alabama.
Three Observations
1. —Dallas sets the tone— Tennessee entered the weekend knowing it needed to get a win over at least one of LSU’s potential first round draft pick starters. Chad Dallas came out the gates strong against the Tigers on Friday night allowing just one run and four hits while striking out a career high 11 batters.
Dallas outdueled LSU righty Landon Marceaux who hadn’t given up an earned run entering the weekend. The Vols didn’t dominate Marceaux but they were able to scratch two runs (one earned) against him and push him from the game in five innings, giving them an early crack at the Tiger’s shaky bullpen.
The two runs were all Dallas needed as Gavin Dugas’ solo homer was the only mistake he’d make all night. The junior from Texas threw all three of his pitches effectively and was able to lean on his off speed pitches early to open up his low 90s fastball.
Dallas has been solid in his two years at UT and has definitely been better this season than his 4.70 ERA entering the weekend indicates, but Friday was the first time we’ve seen him not only throw five great innings, but push through and throw seven strong innings. And that’s what it’s going to take for Dallas to be a high level Friday night
starter.
And Dallas turning into a good Friday night starter is going to be immensely important if Tennessee wants to assert itself as one of the top five teams in the SEC. The Vols don’t have a strong third weekend starter right now and you can’t expect Tidwell to give you a win every time out.
Dallas’ start set the tone for the whole weekend and his steps forward feel attainable and not fluky.
2. —Liam Spence hasn’t gone away— Tennessee recruited Liam Spence from Central Arizona College to replace Ricky Martinez as a strong defender and good athlete in the middle of the Vols’ defense.
Spence surprised by hitting .346 in the condensed 2020 season but the Australia native has shown that it was no fluke.
The Vols’ shortstop and leadoff man has quietly been the team’s best hitter this season, batting .389 with two homers and 18 RBIs. You could also make that argument for Drew Gilbert and Jake Rucker but where Spence has particularly impressed is with his consistency.
Most of Tennessee’s bats, even its good ones, have been inconsistent or had off weekends this season. That simply isn’t the case for Spence who hit .267, .294, .545 and .300 each weekend of the pre conference slate.
Proving he can do it at an SEC level? No problem. Spence hit .429 at Georgia including a solo home run to open the weekend and hit .454 this weekend against LSU.
Spence consistently finds himself on base, as he was eight times in 14 at-bats this weekend, on top of being a base stealing threat (five stolen bases on the season) and every bit the defender Tennessee thought they were getting to replace Martinez.
3. —Still plenty of room for growth offensively— Even with the series sweep over LSU, Tennessee was far from perfect, especially at the plate where the team hit just .211 on the weekend.
The Vols did have 19 walks to pull their on-base percentage to a respectable .364 but that’s a number Tennessee needs to go up and one that you expect would.
Tennessee’s offense was carried by its four homers in Saturday’s game and did a good job of getting runners on third home with less than two outs the rest of the weekend.
Still a couple of the bats Tennessee’s relying on had pretty brutal weekends. Jordan Beck went just 1-of-12 while striking out five times and really struggled with runners in-scoring position. Max Ferguson has just one hit through two weeks of SEC play, going 0-of-8 on the weekend. Pete Derkay wasn’t his best at the plate either, hitting just
1-of-9.
Ferguson and Derkay did do a good job of working competitive at-bats and getting on base via walks, the duo combined for seven walks on the weekend, but there’s no doubt Tennessee expects more from those guys, especially Ferguson and Beck.
Two Questions
1. Does Tennessee’s weekend rotation stay set?
Through two weeks, Blade Tidwell has looked plenty good enough to be an SEC Saturday starter and is certainly one of the Vols’ best two starters. So does Tennessee keep him as it’s Sunday starter?
Tidwell started the year as the Saturday starter and didn’t do anything to earn the demotion, so it seems like Tony Vitello and company like the idea of him closing the weekend and Heflin and the Vols’ bullpen doing things by committee on Saturday.
Does it stay that way?
The X-factor on keeping Tidwell on Sunday or moving him to Saturday lies largely on the shoulders of Chad Dallas and the Vols’ Friday success. If Dallas pitches like a high level SEC starter and UT wins on Friday keeping Tidwell on Sunday works well. The Vols play with house money on Saturday and then likely have the pitching advantage in
Sunday’s rubber match.
If they lose on Friday you’re then giving yourself an uphill battle on Saturday and possibly putting Tidwell into a high pressure Sunday start to avoid the sweep. But if Tennessee keeps winning on Friday I’m not sure you see the change.
So does Will Heflin keep holding down the third weekend starter spot?
Camden Sewell and Mark McLaughlin both give you the potential to go deeper in the game than Heflin does, but neither of those guys are lockdown weekend starters, and Heflin has done what Vitello has asked of him in both of his starts, getting Tennessee into the fourth inning with a chance to win.
I also wonder if Tennessee likes the idea of opponents facing a right hander Friday, lefty Saturday and righty Sunday. The Vols’ don’t have a true left handed starting candidate and Heflin provides that different look
2. Can Russell and Lipcius big moments get them going?
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about what Evan Russell did Saturday. The senior from Lexington, Tennessee entered the game with a .156 batting average and one home run in what’s been a frustrating season
Russell proceeded to go deep in his first three at-bats, providing Tennessee its first four runs and helping push projected top 10 pick Jaden Hill from the game after he looked dominant early.
Tennessee hopes that this can spark something in Russell and help him break out of his slump and become the solid SEC hitter that he’s shown he can be for three seasons. The early returns weren't great with Russell going 0-for-3 Sunday, but even if this doesn’t help jump start his season, Saturday;s performance was an incredible feat and
Tennessee doesn’t sweep the Tigers without it.
Luc Lipcius was the hero of Sunday’s finale, driving a 2-2 pitch up the middle to give Tennessee the walk off win in the eighth inning.
Lipcius, a fellow senior, has had his struggles at the plate this season as he’s currently hitting just .211 and went 2-of-12 at the plate this weekend. However, Lipcius hasn’t looked as bad at the plate as Russell or his numbers indicate. The left handed first baseman has a .362 on-base percentage and his 18 strikeouts are on the lower end
of Tennessee’s every day starters.
Lipcius’ big hit sparking a strong run for him at the plate would be a big development for Tennessee and doesn’t feel like one out of the realm of possibility.
One Prediction
Vols win series in Tuscaloosa
Tennessee now looks forward to another opportunity to improve its conference record with a road trip to Alabama. The Crimson Tide’s program is on an upward trajectory under third year coach Brad Bohannon and made a splash on the opening night of SEC play, beating No. 1 Arkansas 16-1.
From then on, Alabama has lost five straight SEC games but those losses all came to top five teams in the Razorbacks and Ole Miss.
Alabama will be hungry and desperate for a SEC series win to keep itself within striking distance of the NCAA Tournament but Tennessee is still the better team and it’s hard to bet against a UT team that just keeps finding ways to win close games.
The Vols keep the mojo going and pick up another SEC series win before heading into the gauntlet of back-to-back home series with Florida and Vanderbilt.