Tennessee baseball heads on the road to Georgia looking to build off its eight-game winning streak that concluded its nine-game home stand.
The Vols swept Vanderbilt and Mississippi State in consecutive weeks to significantly improve their NCAA Tournament standing. Georgia dropped a three-game series at Ole Miss last week but swept Arkansas at home two weeks ago and has lost just one series at home this season.
Here’s everything you need to know about the weekend series between Tennessee and Georgia.
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Stands In Bracketology A Month Away From The NCAA Tournament
Game Times — No. 18 Tennessee (31-14, 11-10 SEC) at Georgia (25-20, 8-13 SEC)
Game One (Friday): 6 p.m. ET
Game Two (Saturday): 2 p.m. ET
Game Three (Sunday): 1 p.m. ET
How To Watch
Game One: SEC Network+ stream
Game Two: SEC Network+ stream
Game Three: SEC Network+ stream
What Tony Vitello Said About The Series
On if he’s liked the team’s approach on the road this season
“Yeah. The Arizona one was a unique one. We had guys missing in action and it was our first trip and it was an interesting tournament. Two neutral site games and one road game so that one was quirky. Then you go into the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field and they played well and we didn’t. Then everyone knows Baum(-Walker) Stadium and then also at LSU, those are two of the tougher environments. Each weekend, to be honest with you, completely different circumstances and a little bit different vibe from our team. I’d say if there’s a complaint you’d like some consistency, but we haven’t really gotten in a rhythm where we’re on the road and we’re not. So now we’re in that rhythm so it’ll be interesting to see. Really what you want is for your guys to keep playing baseball the way they’re playing here. It’s really fun to be at home and every SEC team that’s really good is good at home so it’s better to be the hero but sometimes you gotta go on the road and be the villain. Playing Bane would be fun too. Not just Batman. Especially if you don’t have that bad voice Christian Bale had in that deal.”
On what he knows about Georgia
“For me, they have some guys that have been around for a while. That’s the thing that sticks out the most. If you haven’t heard the names that are in that lineup when you go look at it again they’ll pop up because we’ve played those guys the last couple of years. I understand pitching staff wise they have a lot of lefties. We have a good amount of left-handed hitters so that will be something but we’ll dive into that a little bit more, but that’s the thing that sticks out to me. We’re in that quirky period where COVID is still a factor as crazy as that sounds. So you have some rosters where you have some really older pieces or experienced pieces that are in play. We have a few of those too but they definitely do, especially at the plate.”
Projected Pitching Matchups (via Tennessee Game Notes)
Game One — RHP Andrew Lindsey (0-2, 3.11 ERA, 1.09 WHIP, 44 K, 12 BB, 37.2 IP) vs. RHP Kolten Smith (2-1, 4.91 ERA, 1.41 WHIP, 19 K, 12 BB, 22 IP)
Game Two — RHP Chase Dollander (5-4, 4.24 ERA, 1.24 WHIP, 82 K, 21 BB, 57.1 IP) vs. LHP Charlie Goldstein (3-1, 4.50 ERA, 1.30 WHIP, 44 K, 15 BB, 40 IP)
Game Three — RHP Drew Beam (6-2, 3.13 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 53 K, 16 BB, 54.2 IP) vs. TBD
Bats To Know
Tennessee
Blake Burke — .323 BA, .414 OBP 1.060 OPS, 15 HR, 21 XBH, 38 RBI
Georgia
Charlie Condon — .404 BA, .507 OBP, 1.320 OPS, 19 HR, 29 XBH, 57 RBI
Connor Tate — .379 BA, .460 OBP, 1.141 OPS, 13 HR, 29 XBH, 46 RBI
Parks Harber — .285 BA, .349 OBP, .942 OPS, 15 HR, 23 XBH, 48 RBI
Ben Anderson — .277 BA, .381 OBP, .797 OPS, 3 HR, 14 XBH, 21 RBI
Last Three Series
Tennessee
04/14 — 04/16 — Arkansas swept Tennessee in Fayetteville
04/21 — 04/23 — Tennessee swept Vanderbilt in Knoxville
04/27 — 04/29 — Tennessee swept Mississippi State in Knoxville
Florida
04/14 — 04/16 — Florida won two out of three over Georgia in Gainesville
04/20 — 04/22 — Georgia swept Arkansas in Athens
04/28 — 04/30 — Ole Miss won two out of three over Georgia in Oxford
Prediction
Tennessee has gotten its season back on track the last two weeks but they still have left one box unchecked. The Vols have been terrible on the road this season, posting a 1-9 record in true road games. The good news is they have a manageable task on the road this weekend.
Life is never easy in the SEC but Georgia has been a below average team this season. However, Georgia has been strong at home posting a 16-10 record with just one series loss.
The Vols have figured out their weekend pitching rotation and have played much better defense the last two weeks. If they do that again they should pick up their first road series win.
