Tennessee baseball is back in action this weekend as they head to Alabama for a Thursday through Saturday series at Sewell-Thomas Field in Tuscaloosa.
It’s the first true road series of the season for Tennessee baseball and they enter the weekend set coming off its first loss of the season against ETSU on Tuesday evening.
Here’s how to watch, pitching matchups and everything else to know ahead of the three-game set in Knoxville.
More From RTI: Everything Tony Vitello Said After Tennessee Baseball Suffered First Loss of the Season
How to Watch: No. 2 Tennessee baseball (20-1, 3-0 SEC) vs. No. 12 Alabama (21-1, 3-0 SEC)
Thursday
First pitch time: 7:30 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Dave Neal, CC: Lance Cormier
Watch: ESPNU
Friday
First pitch time: 7 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Noah Reed, CC: Lance Cormier
Watch: SEC Network+
Saturday
First pitch time: 2 p.m. ET
Announcers: PxP: Noah Reed, CC: Lance Cormier
Watch: SEC Network+
Pitching Matchups
Thursday:
Vols LHP Liam Doyle: 5 GS, 3-0, 0.72 ERA, 25 IP, 0.64 WHIP, 53 K, 7 BB
vs.
Tide RHP Zane Adams: 5 GS, 3-0, 3.00 ERA, 24 IP, 1.29 WHIP, 26 K, 9 BB
Friday:
Vols RHP Marcus Phillips: 5 GS, 2-0, 1.04 ERA, 26 IP, 0.85 WHIP, 32 K, 7 BB
vs.
Tide RHP Riley Quick: 5 GS, 4-0, 1.33 ERA, 20.1 IP, 0.84 WHIP, 20 K, 6 BB
Saturday:
TBD
vs.
Tide RHP Bobby Alcock: 5 GS, 3-0, 3.60 ERA, 20 IP, 1.05 WHIP, 25 K, 5 BB
What To Know About Alabama
Alabama is off to a red-hot start to the 2025 season, entering its second SEC series with just one loss. In non conference play, the Crimson Tide earned neutral site wins over Coastal Carolina, Ohio State and North Carolina State as well as a ranked midweek win against Troy.
Rob Vaughn’s second Alabama team opened up SEC play with a bang, sweeping Texas A&M in College Station before returning to Tuscaloosa for a narrow midweek victory over South Alabama.
On the mound, Alabama has a pair of strong starting pitchers in RHP Zane Adams on Thursday night to open the season and RHP Riley Quick on game two Friday. In the bullpen, Tyler Fay has given up just one earned run in 12.1 innings pitched and Carson Ozmer who’s allowed two earned runs in 11.1 innings pitched.
At the plate, sophomore shortstop Justin Lebron is a superstar, entering the weekend with 12 home runs and seven more extra-base hits already on the season. Will Hodo is hitting .383 with seven home runs, six doubles and 27 RBIs.
Tennessee Looking To Bounce Back In More Ways Than One
Tennessee dropped its first game of the season on Tuesday night when ETSU defeated the Vols’ 7-6 in 10 innings at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols turned a late game deficit into a late game lead with three combined runs in the seventh and eighth inning before ETSU tied the game with a ninth inning home run.
The loss ended a 23-game winning streak for Tennessee dating back to last season. Ironically, Tennessee hasn’t lost a series since its SEC opener against Alabama in Tuscaloosa a season ago. The Vols haven’t lost consecutive games since then when they dropped both game two and game three of the series.
Tennessee is looking to bounce back from its midweek defeat against ETSU and last season’s series loss to the Crimson Tide.
Prediction
Tennessee has a young team and just faced its first true bit of adversity on the field this season. That makes me curious to see how the Vols bounce back against a good Alabama team.
Not only is it a good Alabama team but it’s a good team that Tennessee has to face in its first true road series of the season. That makes this feel like a toss up, but the Vols have given me very little reason not to trust them to this point.
Tennessee wins two out of three
