Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello has an embarrassment of riches with the Vols’ pitching staff this season and as the group becomes healthier the fifth-year head coach will have some challenging decisions to make.
On his weekly appearance on the Tony Basilio Show Wednesday, Vitello announced that sophomore Blade Tidwell will get the ball in Saturday’s game two matchup with Auburn. It’s the second straight Saturday start for Tidwell.
The Loretto, Tennessee native was bound to be the Vols’ ace this season after earning Freshman All-American honors as Tennessee’s Sunday starter last season. However, shoulder soreness that led to shoulder stiffness sidelined Tidwell the first six weeks of the season.
With Tennessee’s weekend rotation of Chase Burns, Chase Dollander and Drew Beam dominating, Tidwell didn’t get his weekend starting spot back immediately. The first five appearances of the sophomore’s season were either out of the bullpen or in short midweek starts.
However, Tidwell’s opportunity came after a Zane Denton (Alabama) line drive struck Saturday starter Dollander in the right arm. Dollander and the Vols avoided a fracture, but the Georgia Southern transfer hasn’t pitched since suffering the deep bone bruise.
Tidwell started in Dollander’s place last weekend at Florida, dominating the Gators in 4.2 innings pitched. The hard throwing right-handed pitcher struck out five Florida batters while allowing just three baserunners.
While Dollander won’t start this weekend, the sophomore transfer is progressing well. Dollander dressed out and threw in the outfield before the Vols’ midweek win over Xavier. Postgame, Vitello said Dollander could see the mound this weekend.
“Much better than maybe a few days ago if I would’ve answered that question,” Vitello said of Dollander’s recovery. “I think he kind of sees that it’s coming along and we knew that it would but we would rather be a little cautious than not. In the end, some of these guys when they have a quick outing— you go get a guy in the third inning and he’s upset, but once time passes you realize this is not a big league season but it’s a marathon for these kids and they’re young, so a little time off can go a long way and this might actually end up benefiting him. But he’s anxious to get out there. We want to use him this weekend. I don’t know if that’s possible, but he’s definitely doing a lot more as of the last couple days.”
As Vitello mentioned, Dollander’s injury could be a blessing in disguise. On top of getting Tidwell high pressure starts before postseason play, it lessens Dollander’s workload.
Dollander pitched 49 total innings as a freshman at Georgia Southern last season, and had already thrown 45 innings on the season when he took the mound against Alabama. Taking two starts off could prove beneficial in keeping the right-hander fresh for postseason play.
Tennessee opens its weekend series against No. 19 Auburn at 7 p.m. ET Friday night. Tidwell will take the mound at Lindsey Nelson Stadium 24 hours later for game two of the weekend series. The SEC Network will broadcast the first two games of the series while the SEC Network+ will stream Sunday’s series finale.
