After its strongest first four weekends of SEC play in over 50 years, No. 5 Tennessee sits tied atop the SEC standings entering this weekend’s matchup with No. 2 Vanderbilt.
The defending national champion Commodores enter the series 26-5 (9-3 SEC) coming off their lone series loss this season, dropping two out of three at home to Georgia.
Vanderbilt’s struggles against Georgia allowed Tennessee to pull even with them in the SEC standings and set up a massive weekend series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Still, Tony Vitello isn’t interested in hyping up the top five matchup and is focused on keeping his team prepared for the task at hand.
“I don’t think it’s climb a mountain or plant a flag big or Baker Mayfield sticking a flag in the middle of the field or anything like that,” Vitello said. “I think it’s a next step along the way of us wanting to get better.”
“If you put one of these on a pedestal in our league it’ll overwhelm you. If you put one below— well it’s not a divisional opponent, it’s not this, oh their record isn’t as good— you’re going to get beat.”
Vanderbilt is led by the best one-two starting pitching duo in the country with Kumar Rocker and Jack Leiter. The duo have been arguably the two best pitchers in the SEC this season and both are expected to go in the top five of June’s MLB Draft with Rocker being a near lock to go first overall.
“It all starts with their number one starter,” Vitello said of Vanderbilt. “Rocker will take the mound and lead the way and a guy that’s arguably just as good or however people stack those guys up. I haven’t got to Saturday’s reports yet but some pretty special arms that are complimented by a lot of well rounded baseball players. Guys that play good defense, can steal bases and are fully capable with the bat.”
Rocker has been phenomenal this season, posting a 7-1 record with a 1.88 ERA in 48 innings pitched. Rocker’s numbers were even better before last weekend when he struggled for the first time this season, allowing six earned runs in five innings of Vanderbilt’s Friday night loss to Georgia.
The loss to the Bulldogs was Vanderbilt’s first all season with either Rocker or Leiter starting. Rocker will face Tennessee’s Chad Dallas Friday night in what could prove to be the biggest game of the series.
Sophomore Jack Leiter put up video game numbers in the shortened 2020 season and the pre conference slate this season. The only question left is whether Leiter could duplicate his success against SEC competition.
That proved to be no problem as the right hander didn’t allow a hit in his first 16 innings pitched, recording 26 strikeouts in the process. Leiter is 7-0 with a 0.55 ERA and a breathtaking 84 strikeouts in 49 innings pitched. Leiter will match up with Tennessee LHP Will Heflin.
Vanderbilt will start RHP Patrick Reilly on Sunday. The start will just be Riley’s second on the season as he’s posted a 3-1 record and 3.18 ERA in 17 innings of action this season.
As dominant as Vanderbilt has been on Friday and Saturday, they’ve been pedestrian on Sunday, going 2-2 in SEC play with a combined score of 14-19. Whoever gets the ball for Vanderbilt will match up with Tennessee starter Blade Tidwell.
In the bullpen Vanderbilt has been solid as well but will likely be without two of its top arms this weekend. Sophomore RHP Sam Hliboki had been excellent in SEC play, posting a 1.35 ERA before getting injured last weekend.
Vanderbilt is also expected to be without Ethan Smith who has posted a 3.09 ERA in 11.2 innings pitched.
Still, Vanderbilt has plenty of proven arms including Nick Maldanado (1.10 ERA in 16.1 IP), Luke Murphy (1.38 ERA in 13IP) and Chris McElvain (3.31 ERA in 16.1 IP).
At the plate, the Commodores boast six players hitting over .300 and a team batting average of .311, good for ninth best nationally.
Vanderbilt is led by junior Dominic Keegan who has been stout with a .391 batting average, six homers and 30 RBIs.
Right fielder Isaiah Thomas was a piece Vanderbilt was missing against Georgia but the .352 hitter with 6 home runs was back in the starting lineup in the midweek and is expected to play against Tennessee.
Enrique Bradfield Jr. is third on the team with a .346 batting average and when he gets on base he makes the most of his opportunities stealing 21 bases on 22 attempts this season, good for second in the nation.
Vanderbilt was also without outfielder Cooper Davis and second basemen Tate Kolwyck last weekend and they are questionable for this weekend’s series. While neither are one of Vanderbilt’s top hitters, both are reliable starters and Kolwyck has gone deep five times this season.
Friday’s series opener is set for a 7 p.m. ET first pitch and will be broadcast on ESPNU. Saturday’s first pitch is set for 4 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on SEC Network. Sunday’s series finale is set for 1 p.m. ET and can be streamed on SEC Network+.
