The Vols are heading to Nashville for a series with cross-state rivals.
Tennessee baseball will hit the road to take on Vanderbilt for a three-game series starting on Friday. The Vols (18-7, 3-3) look to build upon their conference success following a series win over Missouri, while the Commodores (14-12, 2-4) look to rebound from being swept in Starkville by Mississippi State for the first time under Tim Corbin.
One of the more interesting notes is the disparity of experience between the two head coaches. Vandy head coach Corbin is in his 30th season as a head coach and 24th at the helm of the Commodores. Josh Elander is about to lead Tennessee into charge in his 26th game as the man in charge.
In fact, Elander had not even been born (1991) when Corbin had started his head coaching career at Presbyterian (1988).
How to watch Tennessee baseball
Each of the games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks. Game one will be on ESPNU at 8 p.m. ET, game two will be on SEC Network at 2 p.m. ET and game three will be on ESPN2 at 12 p.m ET.
For each of the broadcasts, Tom Hart and Tennessee baseball alum Chris Burke will have the call.
As for the radio broadcasts, John Wilkerson will have the call for the Vol Radio Network on FM 99.1 or AM 990. Alternatively, the broadcasts can be streamed on UTSports.com.
Rotating the rotation
Brandon Arvidson will make his first start of the season on Friday, taking Tegan Kuhns’ spot in the weekend rotation. It will also be the first time that the southpaw has made a start in SEC play in his career.
Kuhns comes off a pair of outings in which he was knocked around. Across the righty’s last two starts, he gave up seven runs on 12 hits in 7.2 innings. Meanwhile, Arvidson’s lone blemish across his 8.1 innings of conference work was a three-run homer he surrendered in the Friday loss at home to Missouri. How each responds to their new role will be something to keep an eye on during the weekend.
Styles make fights
The Vols enter the series 12th in the SEC with a .274 team batting average and fourth in the conference with a 3.39 team ERA. Meanwhile, the Commodores possess a team batting average of .301, good for sixth in the conference, and a team ERA of 5.54, which is plum last in the SEC.
On paper, each team has a weakness that the other will look to exploit — Tennessee’s offense versus Vanderbilt’s pitching. This matchup could be the one that dictates who comes away with a series win in Nashville.
Weekend probables
Friday: Brandon Arvidson (1-0, 3.52 ERA) vs Connor Fennell (2-1, 5.74 ERA)
Saturday: Landon Mack (3-2, 3.38 ERA) vs Wyatt Nadeau (2-1, 3.27 ERA)
Sunday: Evan Blanco (2-2, 2.73 ERA) vs TBA
