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Indiana Baseball: Tennessee Volunteers series preview

By Alec Lasley

Omaha, NE - JUNE 27: A general view of a baseball on the field prior to game two of the College World Series Championship Series between the Oregon State Beavers and the Arkansas Razorbacks on June 27, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
Omaha, NE - JUNE 27: A general view of a baseball on the field prior to game two of the College World Series Championship Series between the Oregon State Beavers and the Arkansas Razorbacks on June 27, 2018 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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Indiana baseball stays in the state of Tennessee after their season opening series win against Memphis, to take on the Tennessee Volunteers.

After a three game opening series that saw the Hoosiers take two games, Indiana travels to Knoxville to take on the Tennessee Volunteers.

The Vols welcome in Indiana after starting off 4-0 on the season, but will get their first test when the Hoosiers arrive.

After playing a three game series with Appalachian State, they took on Northern Kentucky on Wednesday, outscoring both teams 29-0.

In a strong non-conference and early season matchup, both teams look to build on quality starts to the season, while Tennessee is looking to pick up a great win that could help them come NCAA tournament time.

Picked just fifth in the Eastern Division of the SEC in the preseason, Tennessee failed to have any player on the first two All-SEC teams.

Hitting

The Volunteers are coming into this matchup with a .256 team batting average, sitting at 153rd in the country, but are tied for 38th in the NCAA in total runs this season.

Led by Luc Lupcius who is hitting .500 (6-for-12), they have a total of four players hitting above .300 so far this season.

Another name to know at the plate is that of Evan Russell. The sophomore outfielder was second on the team in RBI’s in conference play a season ago, and finished with a .260 batting average with 23 RBI’s in 42 total games played. So far this season, he is 4-for-10 with four RBI’s.

Justin Ammons, 3-for-9 from the plate this season, started all 55 games he played in a season ago as a sophomore, leading the team in triples and finishing with a .278 average with 58 hits.

Pitching

In what should be a pitchers dual all series, the Volunteers have a strong four man rotation that will play heavily in their plan of attack this weekend.

Leading the NCAA in era, not giving up a run in four games this season, they are led by Garrett Stallings.

The Junior pitcher is rated as No. 119 overall 2019 MLB Draft Prospect by D1Baseball.com and the No. 29 2019 MLB Draft Draft Prospect among SEC players by Baseball America. In his one outing this season, he pitched seven innings, giving up just one hit with eight strikeouts.

A workhorse, Will Neely led the SEC a season ago with three complete games, and is 1-0 with four strikeouts in his opening start.

Another name who the Hoosiers will probably see is Sean Hunley.

The sophomore had a team-best 7-3 record last season and led all Tennessee starting pitchers with a 2.64 ERA while pitching 75.0 innings. He also finished third on the team with 53 strikeouts.

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Prediction

All-in-all, I believe the Hoosiers bats, only hitting .196 in their opening series, will come alive and put more pressure on the Volunteers’ pitchers than what they have had so far this season.

Look for Pauly Milto to have another good outing and get the Hoosiers in the win column first. Ultimately, I look for Indiana to win two out of three, and take the series to move to 4-2 on the season.

The first pitch is scheduled for 4:30 pm ET on Friday, February 22.

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