Looking Ahead To Tennessee’s Weekend Series At LSU
Image: Tennessee Athletics
By Garrett Armbrust
Vols vs. Tigers in Alex Box Stadium — the series both fan bases have been on pins and needles for all season is here.
Both teams are off to nice starts in SEC play but will need to get a big series win to keep any chance of keeping up with the league-leading Texas Longhorns.
Tennessee (34-7 12-6 SEC) is coming off a rough weekend to Kentucky losing two of three games. Liam Doyle led the Vols to a game one win largely in part due to his nine strikeouts in another dominating performance.
The rest of the series fell apart quickly though for Tennessee as they were held to only three runs on Saturday and Sunday.
The Wildcats’ dominant starting pitching was on full display as Nic McCay struck out 12 Vols on 7.2 innings in game two while Ben Cleaver went 7.0 innings on seven strikeouts in game three.
Tennessee did bounce back in their midweek with a run rule victory over Lipscomb.
LSU (34-8 12-6 SEC) on the other hand took two of three from the Tide in Baton Rouge. The Tigers won game one of the series in a commanding 11-6 victory.
Game two was another impressive win as they used some early runs to propel them to a 4-3 victory.
The Tigers did drop game three 7-4, but nevertheless another ranked series victory for LSU.
The Bayou Bengals did have a surprising midweek result as they lost in run rule fashion 13-3 to Northwestern State, meaning they will have a two-game losing streak heading into the weekend.
Pitching will be important for both teams as each lineup has lots of power throughout the order.
Friday night, Liam Doyle will be back on the bump for the Vols holding his 2.48 ERA, 7-1 record, and nation leading 104Ks.
LSU will send out their ace Kade Anderson who has a 3.92 ERA, 6-1 record, and 91Ks. Anderson was off to a great start to the season but has given up 10 earned runs over his last two starts.
Game two UT will most likely send out Marcus Phillips again who boasts a 2.77 ERA, 2-3 record, and 62Ks. While Phillips’ last few outings haven’t been his best the Vols will need to figure out a way to not allow so many stolen bases the day he pitches.
Phillips’ delivery to the plate has allowed opposing SEC teams to steal way too many bases over the past two weekends leading to easy runs. Anthony Eyanson will be the Tigers’ projected game two guy.
Eyanson has a 3.52 ERA, 6-1 record, and 83Ks. He’s been a very reliable game two starter for LSU especially in recent weeks.
For the finale Tennessee’s projected starter will be Tegan Kuhns who now has a 3.42 ERA, 2-2 record, and 24Ks.
LSU’s Sunday starter will most likely be Chase Shores who has a 5.44 ERA, 5-2 record, and 46Ks.
Conner Ware, however, was the starter of game three this past weekend.
It will be interesting to see who is on the bump this weekend.
It’s undetermined how much AJ Russell we’ll see but after he went almost two innings against UK we should see him at some point this weekend.
UT’s bullpen will need to see some good outings from Nate Snead, Tanner Franklin, Dylan Loy, Ryan Combs, and others this weekend to keep the LSU lineup quiet.
LSU has eight batters that hit over .300 on over 30 games played this season. Derek Curiel, who bats .369 on the season has the highest average on LSU while Jared Jones who bats .359 has a team high 13 homers.
Ethan Frey, Chris Stanfield, Daniel Dickinson, and Jake Brown all also bat over .330 and will be tough batters to keep under control in their home ballpark.
The Vols will have their hands full this weekend as going into Alex Box and winning an SEC series is one of the hardest thigs to do in the sport.
Then again if there is any coach in baseball that can lead his team to doing it, it’s Tony V. Let’s hope this weekend is a productive one down on the bayou.