Author: smokeylowdown1

Smokey Lowdown a site geared to UT sports & sports in general.

Tennessee Baseball Preview vs Auburn

The No. 4 Tennessee baseball team heads down to the plains this weekend for a road series with Auburn.

Tennessee ( 24-5 , 5-4 in SEC Play) will be looking to win their third straight SEC series of the year after knocking off a hot Georgia team shutting out a dangerous Georgia lineup winning the series finale on Sunday winning the series.

The Vols haven’t played in five days after not having a midweek game this week.

Tennessee will be most likely without Billy Amick this weekend again as he continues to recover from his appendix removed almost two weeks ago.

That shouldn’t be a problem for the Vols as they can plug and play guys like Dean Curley , Ariel Antigua, Dalton Bargo , and possibly Alex Perry on the left side of the infield.

Pitching

Tennessee will go with AJ Causey, the Alabama native on Friday , Drew Beam on Saturday, and TBA on Sunday.

Sophomore RHP AJ Russell is still not ready to return dealing with soreness, and swelling.

They want to bring Russell back with gap periods before they feel that he is ready.

Lefties Kirby Connell and Zander Sechrist stepped up big for Tennessee last weekend propelling the Vols to victory and helping winning the series.

Transfer RHP Nate Snead stepped up big as well closing the door on the Dawgs on Friday & Saturday night.

Chasing History

Blake Burke is one more home run away from becoming the all-time home run leader at Tennessee with 41 home runs.

Burke is also riding a 19-game hitting streak , the Junior has also reached base in 27 games straight.

GRAND FEELING

The Tennessee baseball team has hit seven grand slams on the year a new single-season record at Tennessee.

Know The Foe :

Auburn ( 17-11 , 1-8 in SEC play )

The Tigers have had a rough start to SEC play starting out 1-8.

But that record isn’t indicative of how the Tigers are playing.

The Tigers offensively are lead by Cooper McMurray and Ike Irish.

Murray leads the team in batting average (.371), and home runs (11) on the year.

Irish leads the team in runs (35) , hits (41), RBI (45)

Outfielder Bobby Pierce who helped lead the Tigers to victory over the Vols in 2022 is still on the team and still can cause havoc if given the chance.

Pitching

Sophomore RHP John Armstrong leads the Tigers in most categories ERA (2.08 ) and WHIP (1.15)

The Tigers are still trying to figure out their pitching situation which could be an issue if the Vols lineup is hitting the ball well.

Changing The Narrative In The Plains

The Tennessee baseball team will be looking to do something that hasn’t happened since 2005 win the series at Auburn.

The Vols are 3-12 in their last five series on The Plains including being swept in their last visit 2019.

Tennessee’s last couple of visits to Auburn, with all five losses in that span coming by three runs or fewer.

Series Outlook

I think the Vols win 2 of 3 games this weekend on The Plains

Tony Vitello Media Availability :

Tennessee Redshirt Freshman Guard Freddie Dilione V Enters The Transfer Portal.

It was announced Thursday afternoon that Tennessee Redshirt Freshman Freddie Dilione V was enter the transfer portal.

Dilione V, the 6–foot-4 guard only played one full season on Rocky Top . He averaged 1.7 points in 5.2 minutes per game. He played in 18 of Tennessee’s 36 games.

Freddie was in and out of the lineup during the season, including missing time in November after suffering a partial tear of the left plantar fascia.

Dilione only played more than ten minutes twice in the season. including 16 minutes in the season opener against Tennessee Tech.

He scored a season high seven points in that game Vs the Golden Eagles.

While offense wasn’t a problem for Dilione , at times he seemed to not be picking up defensive concepts like the staff would have like him to do so.

Dilione enrolled early at Tennessee in the 2022-2023 season & redshirted.

No. 5 Vol Baseball Shutouts No. 22 Georgia 7-0 In Series Finale

No. 5 Tennessee ( 24-5 , 5-4 SEC Play ) was looking to win the series on Easter Sunday vs No. 22 Georgia (22-6, 4-5 SEC Play ) .

Tennessee pitcher Senior left-handed pitcher Zander Sechrist was dealing vs the dangerous Georgia lineup.

The Georgia native went a career high six innings , allowing four hits, seven strikeouts on the day.

Tennessee got on the board in the fourth after a balk and a Reese Chapman with a sac fly lead Tennessee to a 2-0 lead.

The following inning Dalton Bargo added to the Tennessee lead with a solo shot to make it 3-0 Vols.

Tennessee would tack on three runs in the seventh to make it 6-0 Vols

Nate Snead came in to relieve Zander Sechrist and got out of a jam.

Snead came in for three innings of work and allowed one hit & holding the bulldogs at bay.

The Vols would push across one more run to make it 7-0 Vols

Snead shut the door on the Dawgs in the 9th giving the Vols their second SEC series in a row.

Tennessee won its second rubber match in SEC play in back to back weekends after dropping the first SEC weekend series..

The Vols have no midweek game this week and head down to The Plains to face Auburn next weekend.

Vol Baseball Preview: vs Xavier.

No. 8 Tennessee baseball returns to action tonight in a midweek clash vs Xavier at 6 p.m. at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Tennessee ( 18-3 , 1-2 in SEC ) looks to bounce back after a disappointing weekend in Tuscaloosa starting an eight game home stand starting tonight vs the Musketeers.

The Vols had their chances vs Alabama this weekend but couldn’t take advantage of those along with some errors in the field , taking bad approaches at the plate.

Blake Burke and Christian Moore continue their hot hitting at the plate and chasing history in the process.

Burke is currently sitting at 37 career home runs tying him in 4th in school history.

Moore is sitting at 34 home runs in school history and in seventh place on the all-time home run list .

Know The Foe

Xavier Musketeers (9-11) from the Big East conference

The Musketeers made the NCAA Tournament last season going 2-2 in the tournament.

In 2024 they have already beaten the defending national champions LSU Tigers

They are coming off a series loss to Indiana State this past weekend getting one game of three this past weekend.

At the plate the Musketeers are lead by Isaac Wachsmann with a .393 batting average with five home runs, 10 RBIs

Also the Musketeers home run leader Matt McCormick has 6 long balls on the year.

McCormick started his career at West Virginia , then committed to Tennessee retired from baseball came back a year later to play for Xavier.

The Vols will look to right the ship tonight as they head into their SEC home opener this weekend vs Ole Miss .

Former Tennessee pitcher Garrett Crochet named Opening Day Starter for the White Sox

The Chicago White Sox announced on Monday afternoon that former Vol ace Garett Crochet would be getting the nod on opening day to start on the bump.

Crochet as been a reliever for the White Sox since getting drafted in 2020

Crochet came back last season after coming off Tommy John surgery.

This will be Crochet’s first big league start in his career with the White Sox.

Tulane WR Chris Brazzell Commits To Tennessee

Tennessee football got very big news on Thursday afternoon when Freshman Tulane wide receiver committed to Tennessee

Brazzell as a Freshman had 711 yards , and five touchdowns with Green Wave.

He also averaged 16 yards per catch and was a favorite target by quarterback Michael Pratt.

Will be a big addition to the Vols with two years left for Brazzell will be a nice option for Nico Iamaleava

Tennessee center Cooper Mays announces he’s returning for one more.

On Friday afternoon Tennessee Center Cooper Mays announced he will be returning for the Vols for a fifth year.

A big return for Josh Heupel and Tennessee as they now have a majority of their offensive line returning next year for the Vols.

Tennessee Running Back Jaylen Wright Declares For The NFL Draft & Will Opt Out Of The Citrus Bowl

Tennessee Junior running back Jaylen Wright announced on Friday afternoon that he was entering the NFL Draft.

Tennessee also confirmed that Wright will opt out of the Citrus Bowl as well.

Wright on 137 carries had 1,013 yards, four touchdowns, 7.4 yards per carry in his Junior campaign.

In his career with Vols , Wright had 368 carries for 2,297 yards , 18 touchdowns, 6.2 yards per carry.

Wright was 68 yards away from cracking the top ten in rushing in Tennessee football history.

Tennessee commit Boo Carter ( @boo_Carter6 ) wins Tennessee Class 6A Mr. Football

Tuesday afternoon the Mr. Football award winners in Tennessee were announced for all the classifications in the state.

Tennessee commit & Bradley Central athlete Boo Carter won Mr. Football in 6A.

Carter had 1,145 all-purpose yards , 911 of those yards coming through the air on 55 receptions.

Defensively Carter had 71 tackles on the year with two interceptions

Boo Carter also caused chaos on special teams for opposing teams as well.

Carter will be an early enrollee for the Vols this month as well and will look to contribute anyway he can for the 2024 team.

Tennessee offensive lineman John Campbell to return for another year.

On Monday night Tennessee offensive lineman John Campbell announced that he was coming back to Tennessee for another year.

Campbell played nine games at left tackle for the Vols this season.

Tennessee getting Campbell back for the offensive line next season is a huge win for Josh Heupel & the Vols for 2024