Looking Ahead To Tennessee’s Weekend Series At Ole Miss
Image: Tennessee Athletics
By Garrett Armbrust
The Vols are back on the road this weekend, headed to Oxford to face Ole Miss.
The Rebs are coming off a series win against Kentucky, while the Vols are coming off their worst weekend in the last year, only taking one game from Texas A&M.
Ole Miss has started their season with a 25-7 (8-4 SEC) record, catapulting them up to sixth in the polls.
The Rebs used their pitching to take the series last weekend as they only gave up ten runs the entire series.
Meanwhile the 29-4 (9-3 SEC) Vols had a weekend that spiraled out of control Saturday.
Tennessee took game one of the series winning 10-0 while the pitching staff headlined by Friday starter Liam Doyle threw a combined no hitter.
With inclement weather expected for the game three finale, Saturday was moved to a double header. On Saturday the Vols were outscored by the Aggies 26-9.
Marcus Phillips and Tegan Kuhns did not look themselves, but as any sports fan knows — when it’s not your day, it’s not your day.
The Vols will look to put last weekend in the rear view mirror this Friday, as Liam Doyle will be back on the mound as the projected starter.
Doyle did deal with a blister on his throwing hand at the end of the game on Friday, however Tony V said he will be good to go. Doyle now sits at a 2.53 ERA, 5-1 record, and 81Ks on the season.
For the Rebels, Hunter Elliot will be the projected Friday starter as he has been for the Rebs in every game one in SEC play. Elliot holds a 3.63 ERA, 5-0 record, and 51Ks on the season.
Saturday, Tennessee will send out their game two starter Marcus Phillips. He currently has a 2.45 ERA, 2-1 record, and 48Ks on the season.
On the Rebs side, Riley Maddox will be the projected game two starter on Saturday. He has started every game two in conference play and holds a 6.10 ERA, 3-2 record, and 31Ks this season.
On Sunday, Tegan Kuhns will be the projected game three starter. After Kuhns’s had a rough outing last week he now holds a 2.79 ERA, 2-1 record, and 20Ks this season.
Mason Nichols will be the Rebs projected game three guy as he has been lately in SEC play. Nichols has a 4.83 ERA, 2-0 record, and 39Ks on the year.
Once UT gets through the Ole Miss starters they will get to a face an interesting bullpen.
Ole Miss does have some good relief pitchers such as Connor Spencer, Alex Canney, and Ryne Rodriguez. They all carry sub 2.00 ERAs on eight or more appearances.
Their bullpen also has 8 pitchers with over a 5.00 ERA in 5 or more appearances.
It will be imperative for the Vols to work pitch counts, and score runs to get to that part of the pen.
Ole Miss has 3 everyday starters that bat over .300 including, Luke Hill, Mitchell Sanford, and Jedd Utermark who has a team high 10 HRs.
The Vols will need to be especially careful pitching to that part of the lineup.
As for the Vols lineup, they will continue to ride the momentum off the ten runs they scored in the mid-week matchup against Alabama State earlier this week.
One name to watch for the Vols outside of the normal bats is Blake Grimmer.
In limited appearances the freshman is batting .526 with 4 HRs and 14 RBIs.
Expect Tony V to give him some type of opportunity this weekend.
Overall, it should be an exciting series and a good opportunity for the Vols to take a series from a top ten team on the road.