The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team sealed up their first series sweep of the season last weekend, but the games have only just begun.
The Diamond Vols (7-7) return to Lindsey Nelson Stadium yet again for a two-game series against Western Kentucky (7-7). The Hilltoppers are coming off a 7-6 loss against Austin Peay, while the Vols return to their home field confident after securing the sweep over Alcorn State.
Head coach Dave Serrano said his team was feeling pretty good, which he liked to see in light of the team’s rather tough schedule this season. While he was happy with the pitching staff over the weekend, there is always room for improvement.
Serrano said he would like to see the team tighten up defensively until the team’s young pitching staff is able to grow up and mature on the mound.
“We don’t have that dominant pitching staff to be able to give up that many free bases,” he said of Sunday’s game.
Freshman pitcher Aaron Quillen, who pitched six innings Sunday night, allowing four runs on five hits and striking out seven, said part of maturing for him will be keeping his mind on the game. He said it is easy for him to lose focus if he feels the team has a solid enough lead.
“That’s one thing I need to work on is staying focused for a full nine innings and if I can do that then I should be good,” Quillen said.
Serrano said he has enjoyed having Quillen on the team and looks forward to continue putting him in as a weekend starter. His talent has been a major factor on the team since day one and Serrano looks at the freshman right-hander as a great recruiting win on his part.
“I’m very happy with the way he’s throwing the ball and he’s continuing to get better each and every start,” Serrano said.
Offensively, the head coach wants to see the team working as a team and thinking more strategically on the offensive side of the ball.
“That’s kind of been our M.O. a lot through this year so far. We’ve had a lot of two-out RBI and the thing that we haven’t had … is a lot of sacrifice flies of runners in a scoring position,” he said.
Both games are set to begin at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Serrano said he plans to start freshman right-handed pitcher Trevor Bettencourt on Tuesday and freshman left-handed pitcher Andy Cox on Wednesday.
