Moved to Knoxville after graduating in '17 and wanted to give some thoughts from seeing their program up close for most of a decade.
1. Their lineup is solid 1-9: they hit hard and have their version of Montgomery in Christian Moore. Our staff has gotta avoid walks/ locate pitches and our defense has gotta keep playing clean. Jace's hammy will get tested tracking down balls to the outfield
2. Pitching/defense is exploitable: they have 2 reliable starters (Causey and Beam) and solid arms in the pen, but no one we can't have competitive ABs against. Their defense makes a few mistakes a game and we have to take advantage
3. We have the coaching advantage: Vitello is notorious up here for mismanaging when to pull pitchers. We have to repeat the Oregon 7th if he leaves a guy in too long
With injuries accounted I think the Vols are better on paper, but we have a distinct advantage in coaching and slight edge in execution. Vols have choked in years past and have been beatable this tourney (Evansville took a game and FSU should've won game 1). If our staff stays locked in and keeps the bases clean, we'll have our chances to take the series. Ags in 3. Thanks and Gig Em
1. Their lineup is solid 1-9: they hit hard and have their version of Montgomery in Christian Moore. Our staff has gotta avoid walks/ locate pitches and our defense has gotta keep playing clean. Jace's hammy will get tested tracking down balls to the outfield
2. Pitching/defense is exploitable: they have 2 reliable starters (Causey and Beam) and solid arms in the pen, but no one we can't have competitive ABs against. Their defense makes a few mistakes a game and we have to take advantage
3. We have the coaching advantage: Vitello is notorious up here for mismanaging when to pull pitchers. We have to repeat the Oregon 7th if he leaves a guy in too long
With injuries accounted I think the Vols are better on paper, but we have a distinct advantage in coaching and slight edge in execution. Vols have choked in years past and have been beatable this tourney (Evansville took a game and FSU should've won game 1). If our staff stays locked in and keeps the bases clean, we'll have our chances to take the series. Ags in 3. Thanks and Gig Em