The third (weekend) in (March).
For the first time all season long, Tennessee will be looking to bounce back when they take the field tonight in Tuscaloosa. The top-ranked Volunteers dropped a mid-week game to ETSU in extra innings on Tuesday night, which was their first loss of the season.
It’s baseball, that’s going to happen — particularly in the midweek when you’re trying to develop younger players.
“We’ll see what we got,” Tony Vitello said after the loss. “You know, to this point, it’s been nothing but glad-handing and hype and everything else. Some of it’s earned. Some of it’s not. All of it’s been positive. There’s a lot of negatives in this game, and there’s a lot of negatives in competing, so we’ll see what we got between now and a quick turnaround.”
The 20-1 Volunteers move on to face No. 10 Alabama this weekend, which will be their first conference road trip of the season. The Tide are rolling, fresh off of a sweep of Texas A&M to open SEC play. Alabama is 21-1 on the year, setting up a true showdown this weekend.
Tennessee-Alabama Weekend Schedule
Game 1 – Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET): ESPNU
Tennessee: LHP Liam Doyle (5 GS, 3-0, 0.72 ERA)
Alabama: LHP Zane Adams (5 GS, 3-0, 3.00 ERA)
Game 2 – Friday (7 p.m. ET): SEC Network+
Tennessee: RHP Marcus Phillips (5 GS, 2-0, 1.04 ERA)
Alabama: RHP Riley Quick (5 GS, 4-0, 1.33 ERA)
Game 3 – Saturday (2 p.m. ET): SEC Network+
Tennessee: TBD
Alabama: RHP Bobby Alcock (5 GS, 3-0, 3.60 ERA)