Happy Monday, everyone.
With spring football and the NFL Draft now behind us, the overwhelming focus of Tennessee men’s athletics is now on Vol baseball, and, well, things haven’t been going quite as well lately.
Let’s get into it.
1) The Vols dropped two of three over the weekend, as you know, and I can’t help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, things would have gone a little bit differently if the top of the first on Friday didn’t happen.
Liam Doyle started the rain-soaked opener, but after allowing 2 runs, coming by way of a very questionable home run that was allowed despite appearing to hit off the wall, the game was delayed until Saturday. That meant Doyle wouldn’t be able to continue and pitch the opener, while Auburn’s starter, who hadn’t started pitching, still got to go in game one. Tegan Kuhns continued for UT and was able to keep Tennessee relatively in the game at 4-0, but an ice-cold offense couldn’t do anything about it.
2) Home plate umpire Ben Levin’s strike zone was, let’s say, extraordinarily generous against Tennessee in the opener. Pitches crossing at mid-shin were called strikes, so that certainly didn’t help either. Tony Vitello got tossed in game three and lost his mind on the entire umpiring staff on the way out. He dropped a 22-inch rims comment after the series regarding the strike zone range. A shame collegiate umpiring is still this bad, honestly.
3) The game two walk off on Sunday afternoon was exciting. I thought that was going to spark a big game three and a series win.
It did not.
Tennessee’s bats went ice cold with another one-run performance, and an 8-1 finale sent Tennessee to their fourth series loss in their last five.
There’s plenty of blame to go around, but I still feel like the issues with this roster are starting to emerge and are impossible to deny.
The Vols needed to find one more starter, as I believe Marcus Phillips has turned into a player on Saturdays who can give you a chance to win much of the time. But Sundays haven’t been pleasant and have seen series losses to LSU, Kentucky, and Auburn over the last three weeks.
The Vols could also use another arm or two in the bullpen. Nate Snead’s falloff in 2025 has been undeniable, and Tennessee is hurting right now without the ability to turn to an Aaron Combs or Kirby Connell in the late innings.
And that gets me to the last point: this team just lost way too much talent to the big leagues to be able to expect a repeat performance. Seven Vols were drafted in the first five rounds of last year’s MLB Draft and eight were drafted overall. That production and veteran leadership is hard to replace, and we’re seeing that as this team slides towards the end of the regular season.
4) How big is this series coming up against Vanderbilt? Massive. Gotta have it.
Vandy is playing relatively well lately, sweeping Georgia, dropping two of three at Ole Miss, but winning 2 of 3 against Bama last weekend. The Dores are even with Tennessee in the standings, so this series is crucial to both SEC tourney standings and regional/super regional possibilities.
Go Vols!