The SEC season has not started out as the Tennessee Volunteers baseball team wanted, having lost five of its first six conference games, including a 3-game sweep last weekend at the hands of the Georgia Bulldogs.

And the road only gets tougher for the Vols.

This weekend the Diamond Vols (10-11, 1-5 SEC) will take on defending national champion Vanderbilt in Nashville for a 3-game series. The last time the two teams played, the Commodores eliminated the Vols in the first round of the SEC Tournament.

“They obviously have a lot of talent and a good swagger about themselves,” Tennessee head coach Dave Serrano said. “They’re defending national champions, so they feel good about themselves.”

The Commodores (20-5, 5-1) are riding a 3-game winning streak and have won both their conference series so far. Last season, the Vols split the four games they played against their cross-state rivals. This will be the two teams’ first meeting in 2015.

“They’re from the other side, so we know them very well and they know us,” Tennessee second baseman Nick Senzel said. “I thought last year we played them really close, and I think we’ll play them tough again.”

Vanderbilt is known for their pitching, and for good reason. The Commodores boast a deep and talented pitching staff and have a combined ERA of 2.95 on the season. Four of their pitchers who have logged more than 23 innings pitched have an ERA below 2.

For a Vols roster that’s only hitting a collective .254 on the season, facing a solid Vanderbilt pitching staff isn’t a welcome sight. Despite scoring seven runs on Wednesday against Cincinnati, the Vols only earned four hits on the night and haven’t hit over .275 in a single game all season.

But as deep and talented as Vanderbilt’s pitching staff is, the team’s batters are just as potent. Three Commodore hitters have hit at least four home runs and have driven in 20 RBIs this season. Infielder Dansby Swanson is the most complete hitter for the Commodores with a .364 batting average, four home runs, 24 RBIs, and 10 stolen bases on the season. He also leads the team with 33 runs scored.

Serrano mentioned Wednesday that a pitching change will take place this weekend. Hunter Martin will replace Kyle Serrano as the Sunday starter, and Serrano will move to the bullpen for the foreseeable future. The rest of the pitching staff will remain the same.

“We’re going to look them in the eye and take them pitch to pitch,” Serrano stated. “We’ll see how it comes out at the end of the weekend.”