Tennessee baseball is back in action at the Astros Foundation College Classic on Saturday afternoon when they host Rice in the second game of the event.
The Vols improved to 9-0 on the season with a win over Oklahoma State on Friday night in Houston. On paper, Rice is Tennessee’s easiest opponent in the three-game event.
Here’s how to watch the game and more details to know.
More From RTI: Dominant Pitching, Long Ball Powers Tennessee Baseball Past Oklahoma State
How to Watch: No. 3 Tennessee Baseball (9-0) vs. Rice (2-6)
- Game time: 12:05 p.m. ET/11:05 a.m. CT
- Streaming at Astros.com.
- Streaming @Astros on X (Twitter)
- PxP: Randy McIlvoy, CC: Pat Combs
- Radio: Vol Network at UTSports.com
How Tennessee Got It Done Against Oklahoma State
The Vols opened up the weekend with a 5-2 victory over a strong Oklahoma State team. Liam Doyle was highly effective in 4.1 innings of action, striking out nine batters while keeping the Cowboys off the scoreboard.
LHP Dylan Loy relieved Doyle in the fifth inning with two-on and one-outs and promptly struck out the two batters he faced to get out of the jam.
At the plate, Tennessee scored four runs on four solo home runs including a pair of blasts from Gavin Kilen as well as lone blasts from Dean Curley and Manny Marin. Marin helped spark an insurance run in the sixth inning when reached on a leadoff single and scored on a Curley groundout.
Marcus Phillips Makes His Third Start Of The Season
Junior right-handed pitcher Marcus Phillips is getting the ball on Saturday against the Owls. The power throwing right hander has allowed just one earned run on two hits and five walks in 8.2 innings pitched this season.
Phillips has also struck out 12 batters to this point in the season. With the high strikeout and walk numbers, how far Phillips can get into the game is a big question on Saturday.
Loy faced just those two batters on Friday. Tanner Franklin threw 59 pitches in three innings of action while Nate Snead threw 9 pitches in the ninth inning. Franklin, AJ Russell and maybe Andrew Behnke should be the only Tennessee relievers not available against Rice.
A Quick Look At Rice
The Owls are off to a poor 2-6 start with wins over USC and Sam Houston. Rice opened the season in the Puerto Rico Challenge, where it lost all three games to Villanova, Michigan and Virginia.
After the Sam Houston midweek win, Rice split a two-game series with USC (third was canceled) then lost a midweek battle against Arizona in an 11-8 high-scoring affair. Mississippi State shelled Rice 14-3 in its opening game of the event on Friday afternoon.
Head coach Jose Cruz Jr. is entering his 4th year and has just one Preseason All-AAC selection in RHP Davion Hickson. Hickson has been sharp to start the season but UT will likely avoid him. The junior has been Rice’s game one starter, meaning he will likely get the ball against Mississippi State on Friday in Houston.
This will be the second meeting between Tennessee and Rice. The Owls won the first matchup in Houston in 2012.
