Vols prepare to host Vanderbilt amid four-game losing streak

It's been a rough year for Tennessee baseball.

At this point in the season, that is no secret. The Vols sit at 23-14 overall and 5-10 over the midway point of SEC play. Both of those numbers in the loss column already well exceed last year's mark.

What's made Tennessee's growing pains worse is the daunting schedule it's been stuck with.

The Vols have already played ranked Texas A&M, LSU, Florida and Arkansas teams during their conference slate and won just one of those series.

Following a forfeited sweep at Arkansas and a disappointing loss to Tennessee Tech earlier this week, this stretch has boiled into a four-game skid for Tennessee.

Now, it'll have to welcome No. 2 Vanderbilt to Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Last season, the Vols took three games in Nashville and topped the Commodores in the SEC Tournament.

There was plenty of drama in the series including a called-back home run due to a regulating sticker not appearing on a bat.

This year, the squads look much different, though. Tennessee has had major roster turnover from last year's elite team.

To make things more difficult, the Vols are also suffering through injuries. Against Tennessee Tech on Tuesday, both Christian Moore and Maui Ahuna weren't available to man the middle of the infield.

"All that stuff just happened today," said Tony Vitello on Moore's injury following Tuesday's loss. "You get off the road recruiting, you make a lineup and then some guys aren’t available so you readjust. I kind of stay out of those guys' ways and then obviously, we’ll get with (Tennessee trainer Jeff Wood) and get the full update.

“With Maui, he’s had some discomfort in his back and had it looked at. I know there’s some issues there but I don’t know how serious. But definitely wasn’t available tonight."

Those positions aren't the only in question, though. Last weekend, Vitello strayed away from his typical starting rotation to opt for an Andrew Lindsey start on Friday.

Vitello didn't confirm what this weekend's rotation would look like but he says Lindsey will likely take the ball again on Friday.

"(Lindsey is) in position to (start)," said Vitello. "We all went recruiting and get back an hour before the team meal today and everyone is kind of scrambling and you’re also trying to shake off the trip and get ready for today. We’ll chat about it but I don’t plan on doing anything crazy this weekend.”

The other eligible starters are Chase Dollander, Drew Beam and Chase Burns. Burns came out of the bullpen on Sunday but looked the best out of the trio.

These changes to the rotation show that Vitello is willing to mix things up in an attempt to turn the season around.

At this point, he's tried multiple things to rally the team but none have seemingly worked.

Now, Vitello says there's no more talking about what needs to change. Their only option is to make it.

“There’s no more talking, there’s doing," said Vitello. "May is the month you want to look forward to as a student-athlete in college. Ideally, finals gets behind you somewhere in there early. Freshmen to me — like (AJ) Russell showed tonight — should be looked at as almost like sophomores. They’ve been here for almost a whole year. The weather is nice and the competition is fierce whether it’s conference or not. It’s time to do and maybe our part of that is rather than try and mix-and-match too much, go with who we think are the guys and ride them out.”

With Vanderbilt coming to town, the Vols will have to make this change against one of the nation's top teams.

The Commodores are led by RJ Schreck and Chris Maldonado at the plate who both hit over .360 on the year. Schreck has also bashed nine home runs.

On the mound, Devin Futrell has been the best starter going 6-1 with a 2.35 ERA.

First pitch of the series is set for Friday at 6 p.m. ET. in Knoxville.

*****

– TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM.

– ENJOY VOLREPORT WITH A PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION.

– FOLLOW VOLREPORT ON TWITTER: @TennesseeRivals, @TMansfieldMedia, @ByNoahTaylor, @RealTBannerman, @RyanTSylvia, @Dale_Dowden, @ShayneP_Media.