Tennessee baseball is set to take on the Charlotte 49ers in their first game of the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament on Friday in Clemson, South Carolina.
While head coach Tony Vitello was originally non-committal on who would be the starting pitcher on Friday, Tennessee has announced that RHP Andrew Lindsey (2-2, 2.54 ERA) will start.
Charlotte will start sophomore LHP Collin Kramer (6-4, 4.55 ERA) against the Vols. While Kramer doesn’t have the best numbers of Charlotte’s starters, Tennessee has struggled mightily against lefties this season.
Most recently, Tennessee’s offense mustered just one hit in a 3-0 shutout loss to Texas A&M’s LHP Troy Wansing in the SEC Tournament. Additionally, Tennessee was shut down by Georgia LHP Jarvis Evans in a 3-1 Saturday loss to the Bulldogs in early May.
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Lindsey has been Tennessee’s Friday night starter for the last month-and-a-half, and Vitello is not changing the junior’s role heading into the regional.
Lindsey is coming off his best start of the season, pitching 8.1 innings in Tennessee’s 5-0 series-opening win against South Carolina two weeks ago. The New Johnsonville, Tennessee, native shut down the Gamecocks, giving up no runs or walks and just three hits on over 100 pitches.
In 11 appearances and six starts in SEC play, Lindsey has posted a 2.96 ERA, the best of all pitchers who have started at some point.
With Lindsey starting against Charlotte, he will have the opportunity of facing his former team. Lindsey played for the 49ers in 2021 before sitting out the 2022 season for non-injury related reasons.
It remains to be seen who will start for Tennessee in game two of the regional and moving forward, but junior RHP Chase Dollander is likely to get the nod on Saturday if Tennessee beats Charlotte.
First pitch between the Vols and 49ers is at 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU. Clemson and Lipscomb will play game one of the regional at 1 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
