Vol baseball finishes SEC home slate with another big series win
If there's been a tale of two teams this season, it's taken place in the same Knoxville locker room this spring. The Vols started the season off with a very respectable non-conference mark of 15-3. Then, the SEC punched them right in the mouth. They finished the first half of the SEC schedule at 5-10, […]
If there's been a tale of two teams this season, it's taken place in the same Knoxville locker room this spring.
The Vols started the season off with a very respectable non-conference mark of 15-3. Then, the SEC punched them right in the mouth. They finished the first half of the SEC schedule at 5-10, anchored by a dreadful 1-8 road mark a home series loss to Florida.
Since then, Tennessee has been almost unbeatable at home. They swept #4 Vanderbilt and Mississippi State to get back over .500 in SEC play. Another series loss, this time at Georgia, dropped the Vols' road record to 2-10, but Tennessee had a chance to rebound this weekend against the #1 ranked team in the RPI: the Kentucky Wildcats.
And rebound they did.
Tennessee took the season opener Friday night 10-6, led by 5 home runs (including two from Griffin Merritt) and 6.2 strong innings from Andrew Lindsey. The ten-run fun continued on Saturday, as UT hung on for a 10-7 series-clinching win. Tennessee jumped out to an 8-1 lead in the third inning after Jared Dickey hit his second grand slam of the season. Kentucky battled back to draw to within three, but Chase Burns slammed the door with a scoreless final 2.2 innings to make a winner out of Chase Dollander.
Sunday was another ten-run show, except this time for Kentucky. The Cats took the finale 10-0 in a game that was delayed approximately two hours by lightning. Kentucky chased Drew Beam in the second inning, touching him up for 5 runs on 4 hits in just 1.2 innings.
However, Tennessee had already done what they'd needed to do: win another series against a ranked team…and one that they're competing with for a possible regional hosting opportunity in the NCAA tournament.
Make no mistake about it: Tennessee very much needs to secure one of the 16 hosting slots. This has been a Jekyll and Hyde team home and away. At Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Tennessee's record this year is 32-5 with just one home game remaining against Belmont on Tuesday evening. In road and neutral site games, the Vols are just 3-12.
Tennessee travels to #6 South Carolina this weekend in a crucial series for both teams. The Gamecocks are looking to stay inside the Top 8 and earn a national seed, while UT needs to conquer its road demons and push themselves to the right side of the ledger for a hosting opportunity. D1 Baseball and Baseball America's most recent NCAA tournament projections all have Tennessee as a 2 seed and just out of hosting range. A series win over the Gamecocks would likely push Tennessee inside the Top 16, barring a collapse in the SEC tournament in Hoover, Alabama.
If Tuesday night's game against Belmont isn't Tennessee's last home game of the season, then the Vols could be a team to watch in the race for Omaha.
