By BILLY DIXON
For the Tennessee baseball team, last weekend was two steps back and one step forward.
One week after sweeping Mississippi State in Starkville to get back in the Southeastern Conference picture, the Vols faltered at home, losing Friday and Saturday’s games to Ole Miss in familiar fashion.
While this team does not have the shutdown pitching that is always a threat for a shutout, the pitching has been more than good enough to carry this team with just a little bit of offensive help.
The problem is, that help hasn’t materialized.
There are signs, spots of brilliance even, when we see what this team is capable of, but there’s just not enough of it.
For the moment, let’s forget about how good this team looked on Sunday in a 13-5 thrashing of the Rebels – or Tuesday’s dismantling of Lipscomb. In fact, those results just make what happened in game one and two against Ole Miss even more frustrating.
I think we are seeing the exact same thing happen at LSU. Following their Friday night loss to Texas A&M (in a series the Aggies would go on to sweep), Tigers coach Jay Johnson not only called out his players but his coaching staff’s philosophy.
In short, Johnson criticized certain players on his team trying to do nothing but hit home runs and his own culpability in recruiting these guys out of the portal.
“I made some mistakes in constructing the team and trying to replace two guys who were irreplaceable … We won’t make that mistake again.”
All year, the Tigers have had guys in their lineup swinging for the fences and not making the adjustments necessary at the plate to help the team.
Sound familiar?
A couple of weeks ago, I talked in this column about Tennessee batters constantly hitting weak balls into the defensive shift.
At least five times in Saturday’s game, Ole Miss hitters beat Tennessee’s shift by slapping balls the other way. It eventually paid off with a huge six-run ninth inning to clinch the series.
Meanwhile, Vols hitters steadfastly refused to make adjustments. Instead, they took even bigger home run cuts. More and more, this is resulting in strikeouts, weak pop outs, and routine two hoppers. There’s no thought of moving runners, no thought of working the pitcher, no thought of making defenses second guess their alignment.
Worse, it’s not even as if the opposing pitcher is busting guys inside. They’re daring Vols hitters to adjust and they just won’t.
We’re nearing the point of it becoming a coaching issue. We’re definitely at the stage where Vols coach Josh Elander should be telling EVERY batter if they pull a ball against the shift, they’re coming out of the game.
Nobody on this team is playing so well that they’re impervious to spending some time on the bench.
Once again, however, there is a silver lining. And that might be the most frustrating part.
Before Tuesday night’s game against Lipscomb it was becoming harder and harder to justify playing Blaine Brown.
Not only did Brown’s nonchalance in left field cost the Vols both Friday and Sunday, his performance at the plate had been awful. He had gone hitless in seven of eight games, part of a 2-for-31 slump with zero RBIs. The left-hander was swinging out of his shoes trying to pull fastballs 6 inches outside or waving at curveballs in the dirt. Defensively, teams were putting three guys on the right field side of second base and moving the third baseman to where a shortstop would typically play when positioned for a double play ball. Not once in the stretch did Brown attempt to take an automatic single by laying down a bunt, or try to guide an outside pitch that direction. No adjustments.
This isn’t the only stretch like this Brown has had. Prior to the third game at Vanderbilt, Brown was mired in a 2-for-22 slump. Same problem, trying to pull every pitch into the right field bullpen.
He snapped out of that slump with a 3-for-5 effort including a home run and a double in the finale against the Commodores. All three hits went the opposite way. Almost certainly, the light had turned on.
Six hits in 49 at bats later brings us to Tuesday’s game where Brown once again found the left side of the field, blasting just his second home run in the past 13 games into the party deck. He followed that by lacing a double to the wall in left-center.
Brown has been far from the only Tennessee batter suffering from the pulls. It’s been pretty systematic.
There is hope, however. The Vols definitely appeared to snap back Sunday and Tuesday, combining for 27 runs on 27 hits with 10 homers in the two games. The difference was clear with hitters taking the ball where it was pitched. Yes, that included some pulled shots. But many of those were set up with discipline at the plate, drawing 11 walks and three hit-by-pitches, combined with timely hitting to the opposite field. When you do that, pitchers have no choice but to start searching for the middle of the plate. That’s when you tee off and the Vols certainly have. For two games anyway.
Another Midweek Win
As mentioned above, the Vols came ready to play on Tuesday against Lipscomb, jumping out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning before going on to a 14-4 run rule victory. It was only the fifth run-rule victory of the year for Tennessee. The Vols had that many in their first seven games in 2025, and 14 overall.
The win moves Tennessee to 11-0 in midweek contests with three more to go.
Garrett Wright carried the hot stick with the team’s first five-hit game of the season. This comes on the heels of Henry Ford delivering the first 4-hit game of the year Sunday.
To further demonstrate the impressiveness of the Vols’ midweek mark, Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri, and Kentucky all got beat again.
In total, seven ranked teams lost Tuesday.
Coming Up
Crunch time in the SEC is upon us.
Tennessee (27-14, 8-10) remains in the friendly confines of Lindsey Nelson Stadium to host Alabama (28-14, 9-9), starting Thursday night.
The Vols, winners in seven of their last nine contests, might be catching the tide at the right time. Bama has lost six of its last eight.
Make note of a special schedule change. To accommodate ESPN’s Thursday Night Baseball, the series opens at 7 p.m. Thursday on ESPN2, followed by a 6:30 Friday start. The series concludes Saturday at 1 p.m. Friday and Saturday’s games will be streamed on SEC+.
Both teams have been pretty set in the pitching rotation – at least the last couple of weeks.
Thursday will likely see Bama’s Tyler Fay (6-3, 4.50 ERA) against the Vols’ Landon Mack (3-3, 4.39 ERA)
Friday pits Zane Adams for the Tide (4-2, 3.67) against Tegan Kuhns (2-3, 3.35).
Saturday wraps with Alabama’s Myles Blanco (5-2, 3.05) versus Evan Blanco (4-2, 3.76) for the Vols.
Statistically, these two teams are evenly matched, but how they got to those numbers differs significantly. The Vols have posted a 4.13 ERA, the Tide 3.96.
Bama’s staff has struck out almost 100 fewer batters than Tennessee. At the same time, they’ve allowed only 29 HRs, compared to 51 for the Vols arms.
You’ll also see a huge difference at the plate. Tennessee has now tallied 70 home runs to go with 88 doubles. The Tide: 51 long balls and 71 doubles. Bama’s overall batting average is .258 compared to a much-improved .270 for Tennessee.
Alabama generates runs on the bases, where the Tide have a 76-for-83 success rate in steal attempts. Justin Lebron is a perfect 33-for-33 in swipes. In comparison, Tennessee has only attempted 36 steals all year.
Tennessee has been much improved this year in holding runners, having gunned down 14 runners in 49 attempts, but it’s going to be vital to keep Lebron and the rest of the Tide off the basepaths.
Fortunately, the Vols have been very good in that area. They currently rank fourth in the country in walks allowed per game, fifth in WHIP, 18th in hits allowed per game, and fourth in fielding percentage. Despite some pretty noteworthy collapses in the bullpen, this staff and defense have been really solid overall.
Individually, Brady Neal is clearly the Tide’s most dangerous hitter with a .364 average, seven home runs, and 38 RBIs. Bryce Fowler is Alabama’s only other guy over .300 with a .312 mark. Lebron is dangerous not just on the bases but the plate as well. He leads the team with 12 home runs.