Weekend Preview: No. 1 Tennessee @ Florida

After back-to-back weekends at home, No. 1 Tennessee (34-3, 14-1 SEC) hits the road to take on an inconsistent Florida (23-14, 6-9 SEC) team in Gainesville. Here's everything you need to know to get ready for this weekend's series between the Vols and Gators.

Where Tennessee baseball is ranked in the polls this week

Perfect Game: No. 1 (-)

Collegiate Baseball: No. 1 (-)

NCBWA: No. 1 (-)

USA Today Coaches Poll: No. 1 (-)

D1Baseball: No. 1 (-)

Baseball America: No. 1 (-)

Schedule (TV)

Friday, April 22: @ Florida, 6:30 p.m. ET (SEC Network+)

Saturday, April 23: @ Florida, 6:30 p.m. ET (SEC Network+)

Sunday, April 23: @ Florida, 12 p.m. ET (SEC Network+)

Projected weekend rotation

Game 1: RHP Chase Burns (6-1, 2.22 ERA) vs. RHP Ryan Slater (2-1, 3.52 ERA)

Game 2: TBD vs. RHP Brandon Sproat (4-3, 4.91 ERA)

Game 3: RHP Drew Beam (8-0, 1.50 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon Neely (1-0, 4.30 ERA)

Storylines to watch

Will the Vols miss Tony Vitello?

They haven't yet.

Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello will sit out the first two games of the series as he completes his four-game suspension following last Saturday's ejection against Alabama in game two when he bumped into third base umpire Jeffrey Macias.

Assistant Josh Elander is serving as the interim in the meantime. Elander led the Vols to a 15-4 win over the Crimson Tide on Sunday to clinch a series win, as Vitello sat out the first game of his suspension. Tennessee then beat Bellarmine on Tuesday night 9-3.

Vitello will return to the bench for Sunday's series finale with the Gators.

Who starts on Saturday?

Vitello was ejected and suspended after Chase Dollander took a line drive off his pitching elbow in the first inning against the Tide. Dollander avoided a break or fracture, but is unlikely to pitch this weekend as he deals with swelling and soreness.

In the meantime, Tennessee has not yet announced who will start in Dollander's place on Saturday against the Gators. While not official, it's expected that sophomore righty Blade Tidwell will start on the mound.

Tidwell missed the first month and a half of the season due to shoulder soreness. With five appearances under his belt since returning on March 30, Tidwell is built back up to where he could start games one again, though he would be limited to some extent.

Can Tennessee take advantage?

Florida is also dealing with injuries in its rotation, yet the Gators' most decent development is far worse than the Vols.

The Gators will be without ace lefty Hunter Barco for the foreseeable future due to elbow discomfort in his throwing arm. Barco was removed from his last start against Vanderbilt last Saturday after just two innings.

Florida has struggled to find consistent pitching outside of Barco this season. If you remove Barco's 2.50 ERA over 50.1 innings from the team's total, Florida pitchers have an ERA that sits just a tick below 5.00.

Redshirt-freshman Ryan Slater will start in place of Barco. It'll be just Slater's second career start.

Can UT's pitching staff slow down the heart of the Florida lineup?

Slowing down the heart of Florida's lineup will be key to Tennessee's success this weekend.

Two-hole hitter Jud Fabian leads the SEC with 16 homers (T-4th nationally) while four-hole hitter Wyatt Langford has hit 13 homers. (4th SEC, T-24th nation). Oh, and five-hole hitter BT Riopelle has hit 12 home runs of his own (5th SEC, T-35th nation).

Fabian, Langford and Riopelle have hit the second-most home runs (41) of any trio in the nation (Old Dominion - 46), while Florida is one of 12 teams in the country with three players sporting double-digit homers and one of two teams with three 12-plus homer players.

Florida and Tennessee both hit bombs.The Vols lead the country with 88 homers and the Gators rank fifth with 71.

Florida’s 71 homer runs through 37 games matches its total from all of last season's 60 game schedule. UF is on pace to hit 105 home runs in the regular season alone, which would mark the program's third-highest total ever, as well as the most under Kevin O'Sullivan (2018 - 100) and UF's top total since 2002 (111).

Who wins the first three innings?

The key to beating Florida is winning the first three innings. The Gators are 5-13 in games when they trail or are tied after three. When leading after three innings, they're 18-1.

Florida is 3-6 in its last nine SEC games. A 4-3 win last Sunday at Vanderbilt was the only thing separating Florida from its first 0-4 week under O'Sullivan after it dropped a midweek contest at Florida before traveling to Nashville where they lost 5-4 on Friday night and 8-6 on Saturday.

Florida (23-14, 6-9 SEC) Scouting Report:

Series wins: vs. Georgia State (sweep), @ Miami, vs. Seton Hall, @ Alabama, vs. No. 2 Arkansas

Series losses: vs. Liberty, vs. No. 21 LSU, @ No. 23 Georgia (swept), @ Vanderbilt

Stat Leaders:

Batting Avg: Wyatt Langford (.348)

Runs: Jud Fabian (42)

Hits: Wyatt Langford (49)

Home Runs: Jud Fabian (16)

RBI: Wyatt Langford (42)

Stolen Bases: Wyatt Langford (5)

Wins: Hunter Barco (5)

Saves: Blake Purnell (4)