A new season begins for the Tennessee baseball team tonight as it starts SEC play at Auburn.

The Vols are off to the program’s second-best start with a 17-1 record, falling short to only the 1997 Vols, who opened the year 18-1. In addition, the 17-1 record is Tennessee’s best-ever record heading into SEC play.

Tennessee will look to avoid the downfalls of the Dave Serrano years where the Vols pieced together some good non-conference runs before falling apart in SEC play.

“We’re more confident than I’ve felt since being here,” LHP Will Heflin said. “We got off to a pretty good start my freshman year (2017) and in SEC we kind of hit a brick wall. I don’t see that with this team.”

Tennessee’s pitching has been excellent so far in the 2019 season, as the staff currently has a 2.19 ERA, which ranks fourth in the SEC and ninth in the country.

The low ERA is made more impressive considering the nine-run eighth inning the Vols gave up in the pouring rain to Fresno State on Saturday.

Tennesse’s Friday and Saturday starters have set the pace for the pitching staff, as both Garrett Stallings and Zach Linginfelter have 4-0 records.

Stallings’ ERA is 1.63 and the junior has struck out 35 batters on the season. Linginfelter has proven he made the right decision returning to school after being drafted in the MLB Draft. He has a 0.75 ERA and 30 strikeouts.

The Vols’ bullpen has been steady, too, lead by sophomore Garrett Crochet and junior Andrew Schultz.

Crochet has been an exceptional plug in guy for the Vols as the Mississippi native has helped get UT out of multiple jams on his way to a 0.63 ERA and 25 strikeouts.

The question for the Vols pitching staff will be if Will Neely can hold down the Sunday starting job and who are the first guys head coach Tony Vitello turns to in the bullpen after Crochet and Schultz?

Neely’s start Sunday at Auburn will be huge for him and the team as the Auburn will throw of the league’s best pitchers on Friday and Saturday in Tanner Burns and Jack Owen.

After a slow start to the season,Tennessee’s bats have picked up the past few weeks as the Vols currently rank seventh in the SEC in runs, a ranking I believe coach Vitello would love to see his team at in May.

He’s continually stated that it will have to be pitching and defense that wins games for the Vols this year and that this isn’t going to be a team that out slugs anyone, but the Vols’ slugging percentage of .478 is good for the sixth in the SEC.

“They’ve got a little mojo,” Vitello said. “I think the group of nine guys, the sum is greater than the parts because they got a little mojo and attitude to them.”

Additionally, Tennessee leads the league in doubles and ranks sixth in home runs. I think if you told Vitello that a month ago he’d take it without hesitation.

While his average is down from his strong sophomore season, Andre Lipcius’ power is way up as the Williamsburg, Virginia native already has five homers, just two shy of his 2018 total.

Junior college transfer Al Soularie has become a force in the middle of the lineup as the utility man is currently fourth in the SEC with six home runs and hits .390

Don’t overlook Justin Ammons role at the leadoff spot either, as the junior is currently second in the SEC with a .545 on-base percentage.

Tennessee did see a big blow this week when Luc Lipcius was ruled out for five weeks with a fractured foot. The junior was off to a strong start after struggling in 2018 while battling injuries.

It will be tough for Pete Derkay to match his production, but Derkay has seen a large number of innings at first base for the Vols.

The Vols have been a little more sloppy the past few games than Vitello would’ve liked, and the head man knows that if this team wants to return to the NCAA Tournament they can’t afford silly mistakes in the SEC gauntlet.

“SEC play is creeping up and that’s what it’s all about,” head coach Tony Vitello said following the Vols lone loss to Fresno State. “Too many mistakes, too many mistakes… It’s up to our coaching staff to help our guys limit those mistakes, so in May we’re playing May baseball and not February baseball.”

The Vols have set the groundwork for a return to the postseason as the solid non-conference slate got Tennessee’s RPI to No. 13. If they want to capitalize on it they need to play clean baseball the next 10 weeks.

Dave Serrano was never able to get through the SEC gauntlet, let’s see if Tony Vitello can lead this confident team through it in his second season.