The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team won its first three-game series of the season over the weekend, taking two of three games against the Grand Canyon Antelopes. This upcoming weekend will begin SEC play when the Vols take on the Florida Gators in Gainesville.
But first, the Vols have to prepare for two more non-conference home games.
Weather permitting, the Vols (6-5) will play the East Tennessee State Buccaneers (7-6) at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
ETSU started hot, winning five of its first six games. But since then the team has hit a bit of a wall, losing four straight meetings coming into Tuesday’s match-up. But Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano doesn’t want his team to assume a victory and begin looking forward to SEC play.
“We’re not playing good enough to look past anybody,” Serrano said after Sunday’s game against Grand Canyon. “They’re the next opponent on our schedule, and I think with the experience our guys have, they’ll not look past this game to the weekend.”
ETSU has a team full of consistent hitters with a penchant for power. The Buccaneers’ best hitter, junior infielder and Bearden High School graduate Trey York, has a .468 batting average through 13 games, hitting five home runs and knocking in 20 RBIs. Junior Kevin Phillips also swings a heavy bat, hitting .345 with three home runs and 12 RBIs.
The Vols will go with sophomore right-hander Hunter Martin on the mound to start against ETSU. In three appearances, Martin is 1-0 with a 3.18 ERA, striking out five batters in 5.2 innings pitched.
The Buccaneers recruit locally, so many of Tennessee’s local players grew up playing with some of ETSU’s players, adding an unusual element of familiarity to the game.
“I know a lot of guys on that team,” UT infielder A.J. Simcox said. “I played summer ball with York, and Drake Owenby’s (Vols starting pitcher) little brother is on their team.”
ETSU has 23 players on the roster from the state of Tennessee, and the large majority of them are from East Tennessee. Five of those players, York, Dalton Long, Andy Higley, Alex Higley and Hagen Owenby, come from schools in Knoxville.
The Buccaneers defeated the Vols twice late last season, downing them 2-1 and 9-7 in the two games. Serrano and the team know they can’t take anything for granted when facing this local rival.
“They’re a good team and play well against us,” Serrano stated. “They get up for us.
“Our guys need to come ready to play on Tuesday.”
