Tennessee - Alabama: Recapping SEC opening weekend

The Tennessee Volunteers opened SEC play on the road in Tuscaloosa against the 14th-ranked Crimson Tide. If the series were just one game instead of 3, we would be singing a different tune. However, that is not the case and the BaseVols dropped the Saturday and Sunday games losing the weekend series. 

Winning on the road in the SEC is tough, in fact, no road team won a series this weekend including defending champs LSU. That is not to excuse the performance of the Volunteers though. This could have been a sweep for the Vols. After giving up two solo blasts in the bottom of the first, AJ Causey was dialed in Friday night. He threw 8 K’s, pitched 6.2 innings, and recorded the win bringing his season record to 4-0. The bats were also on fire Friday night with 3 Volunteers getting a HR (Burke, Tears, and Dreiling). 

Going into Saturday the Vols had to feel good about winning the series but that feeling quickly faded as the Crimson Tide went up 6-0 through 3 innings. Once that hole was dug the Vols had no real way of getting out. A few solo HRs by Robin Villeneuve and Christian Moore made the score more respectable but the Vols fell short Saturday night 6-3. Drew Beam pitched the entire game and outside of the first 3 innings which were not entirely his fault (errors and poor decision-making), he pitched very well and seemed to set the Vols up with a good shot to win the series in the rubber match by saving the bullpen.

A rubber match on a Sunday afternoon in the SEC is always going to be a tough game, and this one was. It was a back-and-forth affair for much of the afternoon until Gage Miller for the Crimson Tide hit a 3-run shot that gave the Tide a 7-5 lead going into the 9th inning. The Vols were able to get players on base in the 9th and had chances, but two very poor at-bats by Tears and Villeneuve killed any chances the Vols had of a miracle in T-Town. This game is also stained with Tony Vitello getting some heat for leaving Nate Snead in too long. The signs were there that he was faltering and the play before the go-ahead HR was a great catch by Dreiling from a well-hit ball. It was nice to see AJ Rusell back in action, but the pitching has been and will be my main concern for this season. 

Looking ahead the Vols play Xavier tonight back at LNS and host Ole Miss this weekend for their second SEC series. Going 4-0 this week would really help the morale and resume of this Vols team. Looking at the RPI team sheet the Vols need to win some games against higher-level competition to cement themselves among the nation and conference’s best.