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Tennessee baseball is off to an 8-0 start to the season as they head to Houston for the Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic this weekend.
Playing lesser competition, Tennessee has been fantastic on the young season, outscoring opponents 121-8 while posting the nation’s second best earned run average. The Vols have done all of that without two of their best pitchers — Blade Tidwell and Seth Halvorsen.
Tidwell earned Freshman All-American honors a season ago and was poised to be the Vols’ ace this season. The sophomore was limited for much of the offseason and is out indefinitely with “shoulder stiffness that turned into shoulder soreness.”
Right-handed pitcher Seth Halvorsen was Missouri’s ace last season before transferring to Tennessee. Halvorsen suffered an elbow injury in the preseason that has him sidelined for the time being.
Following the Vols’, 4-1, victory over ETSU Tuesday night, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello updated the duo’s status.
“Yesterday was kind of my favorite day of watching those guys play catch,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said. “They’re going through their routine, we’re not going to skip steps, there could be a day where they have a setback and we have to stay at the distance they’re at or man they feel really good so let’s let them get a little further, but right now they’re in the playing catch stage and then eventually they’ll get to the mound before the end of the month and like I have kind of told them, it’s not going to be zero to 60. You’re going to have to face some of our hitters and things like that.”
Of course, Vitello’s comments came on the first day of the month and the phrase “get to the mound” just means the duo will be throwing bullpen sessions by the end of March. It doesn’t guarantee that either will pitch in a game in March though that’s not off the table.
Tennessee has been cautious with pitching injuries under Vitello’s leadership, especially in the first half of the season.
Chase Burns, Chase Dollander and Drew Beam have been Tennessee’s weekend starters to open the season. All three have pitched well but Burns and Dollander have been spectacular in their first two Tennessee appearances.
“We’re not in a rush. There’s innings for guys, and you saw tonight, too, there’s guys on the bench that want to be out there on the position side. I want them to be out there too. There’s opportunities for guys and then on the mound likewise. Everyone knows now the three guys that threw today, we can trust them. There’s room for other guys and even more so with those two guys going through their throwing progression.”
Tennessee has two more weekends of non-conference play before opening up SEC play against South Carolina on March 18 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols’ first three SEC series are challenging as they go on the road to face Ole Miss and Vanderbilt back-to-back weekends following the USC series.
The Vols face No. 1 Texas, Baylor and Oklahoma this weekend at Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic.
