Tennessee baseball is off to a 23-2 (5-1 SEC) start this season and is tied for first place in the SEC as it enters this weekend’s series at South Carolina.
It’s the second straight weekend that Tennessee is on the road after they won two of three games against Alabama last weekend in Tuscaloosa. The Vols took the weekend series in Tuscaloosa without star second baseman Gavin Kilen who missed the three-game series with a hamstring injury.
Kilen’s status is uncertain for this weekend’s series at South Carolina, but Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said there’s a chance that the star infielder could see some action.
“Gavin is better. Making progress, for sure,” Vitello said on Tuesday night. “He’s been able to swing a little bit. We’ll probably go slower than he wants on that, but, you know, we’ll see. There’s a good chance he could at least do something this weekend.”
A Louisville transfer, Kilen has been one of Tennessee’s best hitters this season. Batting in the two-hole, Kilen is hitting .431 with 10 home runs, seven more extra-base hits and 25 RBIs.
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While Vitello said that Kilen could play this weekend that doesn’t necessarily mean that he could start. As Tennessee’s eighth-year head coach noted, the Vols will take it slow as they work Kilen back in the fold. He discussed the details of that in more detail last weekend.
“We’ll first look at the ability to maybe pinch hit and then maybe just hit,” Vitello said following the Alabama series. “Maybe defend after that. And then base running will be last. He’ll probably be asked to chill a little bit there.”
Tennessee did a couple different things to replace Kilen last week. In the first game of the series, Dalton Bargo started at third base while Manny Marin moved to second base. During the final two games of the series, Ariel Antigua started at shortstop, Dean Curley moved to third base and Marin moved to second base.
Both Antigua and Bargo had strong weekends at the plate while Antigua was his usual fantastic self defensively. If Kilen is unable to start at South Carolina, Vitello has a number of different options.
Former LSU head coach Paul Mainieri is in his first season as South Carolina’s head coach. The Gamecocks are 17-9 (1-5 SEC) entering this weekend’s series. South Carolina dropped two of three games at home against Oklahoma in its SEC opening series before Arkansas swept them in Fayetteville last week.
First pitch for the weekend series between Tennessee and South Carolina is at 7 p.m. ET on Friday night. The SEC Network+ is broadcasting the game.
