Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello didn’t have every answer about what his pitching rotation will look like when they travel to Arlington, Texas this weekend for its season opening weekend in the Shriner’s Children Hospital Classic. But Vitello did have one big piece of news.
Preseason All-American Drew Beam will start for Tennessee on game two of the weekend against Oklahoma.
“But for now it’ll be the second day against Oklahoma,” Vitello said on when they’ll use Beam this weekend.
The stability and consistency that Beam brings to the mound is why Tennessee is using him in the middle game of the three-game event. Beam is the Vols’ lone returning starting pitcher and has been one of Tennessee’s most consistent arms in his two-years in Knoxville.
Nicknamed “QB1” since he was a high school quarterback and brings that same mindset to the diamond, Beam is the leader of Tennessee’s pitching staff and has the selfless nature to slide into whatever role he’s given.
“Stability. No question. That’s been the upside to his entire career,” Vitello said. “We play three different opponents (this weekend) and they’re all three really good programs with coaches that have resumes almost as long as (Tennessee pitching) Coach (Frank) Anderson’s. To me, it’s about stability. You go into day two, you want to kind of know what you’re getting and I think on top of that he’s willing to take the ball in any facet or in any way, shape or form you want to do it throughout the year. We even talked in the fall about if we’re fortunate enough to be in the playoffs he may be the guy we wear out and throw in a bunch of different situations.”
Beam has been Tennessee’s Sunday starter each of his first two seasons in Knoxville and is looking to step up into the Friday night starting spot in his junior season. The right-handed pitcher posted a 9-4 record, 3.63 ERA, 1.32 WHIP, 88 strikeouts and just 23 walks during his sophomore season.
More From RTI: Trio Of Vols Land On Golden Spikes Preseason Watch List
As a preseason All-American and Tennessee’s top returning pitcher, it seemed likely that Beam would be the Vols’ Friday night starter this season. Vitello didn’t commit to Beam being the Saturday guy the whole season but the Vols will use him on Saturday to open the season.
Vitello didn’t specify who would pitch on Friday against Texas Tech or on Sunday against Baylor but did sophomore AJ Russell will start one of the two days and one of “four or five guys” will start on the third day. With Russell being locked into a weekend starting spot to open the season, him starting to open on Friday seems like the most likely outcome.
“We’ll see how things go with (A.J.) Russell as far as pitch count and all that,” Vitello said. “We have a bunch of guys we want to get out of the bullpen for their first time wearing a Vol uniform. And it dates back to my first answer, what we want out of this weekend is to get better and have a good experience. If a guy can just get out there and wear a Vol uniform for the first time and just compete, it’ll make everyone better and put a smile on our face.”
The Vols don’t have a definitive third starter entering this season and could use a number of guys— most notably LHP Zander Sechrist, RHP Nate Snead or RHP AJ Causey. Who Tennessee decides to use as its third starter is dependent on who they use out of the bullpen the first two games of the weekend.
First pitch for Tennessee’s season opener against Texas Tech is at 8 p.m. ET on Friday night. The Vols will face Oklahoma at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday night and Baylor at 7:30 p.m. ET on Sunday night. FloBaseball is streaming the games.
