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Freshman All-American and expected Friday night ace Blade Tidwell made his season debut in the Vols’, 11-1, win over Western Carolina.
Tidwell missed the first six weeks of the season while battling right-shoulder stiffness that turned into shoulder soreness.
“I’m a competitive person so it’s been a little challenging,” Tidwell said of the last six weeks. “We’ve been winning and I’ve been having fun trying to do my best to get up in the dugout and stuff like that. Everyone’s been playing good so it wasn’t that challenging.”
Tony Vitello and the Vols are always cautious with pitching injuries early in the season, but the fifth-year coach hinted he could be nearing a return last week. That proved true when Tidwell was on the active roster for the first time all season in Tennessee’s weekend sweep of Ole Miss.
Tidwell was warming up in the Tennessee bullpen in the ninth inning of Sunday’s win over Ole Miss before Redmond Walsh finished off the job while striking out the side.
The sophomore had to wait a few days before finally making his debut, throwing the sixth inning in Wednesday’s blowout victory.
Tidwell’s debut started poorly with Zach Ketterman lining the second pitch he threw down the right field line for a triple before Will Prater drove him in with a RBI double.
“My arm feels great,” Tidwell said postgame. “It wasn’t the outing I’d like to have but it was nice being out there with my guy again and it was fun.
“I missed middle with that slider and missed middle with that fastball. That resulted in two doubles (a double and triple). I started spotting a little better and the results got better.
The next batter reached base via a fielding error giving the Catamounts runners on the corners with nobody out.
That’s where Tidwell returned to freshman year form, striking out the next two batters before getting out of the inning with a pop-out.
“I thought he was outstanding,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said. “His first two pitches sucked. No disrespect to Ketterman. Missed both spots big time and Ketterman put a good swing on it. After that I thought he was great. We made a defensive mistake behind him. Their best hitter without a doubt and a guy who can hit anybody in the country — no disrespect to their other hitters, that’s just my opinion — is Prater. It was a good two-strike pitch the guy just got him. I think he’s a special hitter mentally and physically if you really key into what he’s doing, and the numbers back it up. After that, Blade rolled.”
The 6-foot-4 sophomore’s fastball sat in the mid 90s, mostly from 94-96 MPH, and topped out at 97 MPH in his 20 pitch inning.
The Loretto, Tennessee native will work his way back into the mix of things in the bullpen and where he goes from there is to be determined.
Tennessee returns to the field this weekend for a highly anticipated three-game series at No. 9 Vanderbilt.
