Looking Ahead To Tennessee’s Weekend Series Vs. Kentucky

Image: Tennessee Athletics

By Garrett Armbrust

Tennessee is back in action this week against their rival to the north, Kentucky.

After the Wildcats made it all the way to Omaha last season it’s been a rough start for Nick Mingione’s squad this season.

They currently sit at 20-14 (6-9 SEC). UK is coming off a series in Austin this past weekend where they were able to take one game against the Longhorns.

They did however play a very competitive series and were only outscored by the number one team in the nation 15-12 throughout the weekend.

As for the Vols, they completed another series win, this time over a highly ranked Ole Miss team on the road.

UT used elite pitching from Liam Doyle to lead them to a 3-2 Friday victory. Game two was all Rebs as they jumped all over Marcus Phillips to win the game 8-5.

The Vols then took the rubber match on Sunday by a score of 10-8.

Reese Chapman played hero of the series hitting a go-ahead homerun in the top of the ninth inning to secure the series victory.

Tennessee now sits at 32-5 (11-4 SEC).

Looking ahead to this weekend, Liam Doyle will be back on the bump Friday. He now sits at a 2.47 ERA, 6-1 record, and 95Ks on the season.

Doyle will look to become the first player in the country to record 100Ks on the season.

Kentucky has thrown out various Friday starters this year, but it appears freshman Nate Harris has adopted the role. He sits at a 3.03 ERA, 3-1 record, and 21Ks.

It should be an intriguing game one pitching matchup.

Game two should once again belong to Marcus Phillips for the Vols. After a good start to the season Phillips has had a rough go at it the last two weekends. He comes in with a 3.09 ERA, 2-2 record, and 54Ks.

UK will likely send out Nic McCay who boasts a 3.64 ERA, 3-0 record, and 39Ks on the season. McCay started SEC play as the Friday night guy but has moved into the Saturday role in recent weeks.

Sunday afternoon Tegan Kuhns will be the projected starter for the Vols. He now carries a 2.86 ERA, 2-1 record, and 23Ks on the season.

Kentucky will likely send out Ben Cleaver, who has taken the Sunday role over the last month of SEC play. He has a 3.06 ERA, 3-2 record, and 56Ks on the season.

Over the past two weeks UK has had some trouble scoring runs. Since the start of April, the most runs they’ve scored in a game is six.

The Vols will still need to keep an eye on some guys in their order, specifically Cole Hage and Tyler Bell. Hage bats .322 with 9HRs while Bell bats .321 with 5HRs.

While UK has had trouble hitting, their starting pitching has been solid as of late. All three starters the Vols are projected to face this weekend have a sub 4.00 ERA.

If the Vols can get deep into the Kentucky bullpen they will start to see some pitchers with much higher ERAs.

It should be an interesting series in LNS this weekend with lots of high-level pitching duels.

If the Vols can keep the bats flowing through the weekend they will definitely be in the driver seat for another series victory.