Tennessee completed a three-game baseball sweep of Albany on Sunday afternoon with a 12-0 blanking inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium that was called after seven innings.
The No. 9 Volunteers defeated the Great Danes by a combined 41-11, which revealed a couple of things.
For starters, Tennessee is obviously superior to the America East Conference program that won just nine times in 44 games last season. More importantly, however, is that the Vols rolled behind a lot of pitchers and position players, so maintaining happy faces could be a bigger challenge than seventh-year coach Tony Vitello has previously encountered.
"This team in particular is evolving into a deal where we have a deep offense," Vitello said Sunday after his Vols improved to 7-1. "These guys need to stay hungry but also be good teammates. We're going to do the best we can to keep everybody involved.
"With the pitching staff, we've got a solid starter (Drew Beam) who's been the most stable guy we've probably ever had here. You kind of know exactly what you're getting, but the rest of the guys just need to be ready to go when their name is called."
The depth of the offense has been showcased the past four games, with Vols having amassed 57 runs in a stretch that began with Wednesday's 16-0 trouncing of East Tennessee State.
Two of the bigger bats against Albany were junior left fielder Robin Villeneuve and sophomore right fielder Dalton Bargo. Villeneuve had just two at-bats during the three Shriners Children's College Showdown games in Arlington, Texas, but he went 5-of-8 the past four games with two home runs and six RBIs, while Bargo went 1-for-5 in Arlington but is 5-of-7 the last two games with a homer and four RBIs.
"Everybody is going to rake, one through nine," Bargo, a transfer from Missouri, said after Saturday's 21-6 dismantling. "There is definitely a lot of competition, and when you deal with that, you can't force it. You just have to play your game.
"We're all here for a reason."
Tennessee's pitchers closed out Albany with Zander Sechrist, Nate Snead, Kirby Connell, Andrew Behnke and Derek Schaefer combining to allow one hit.
The Vols are scheduled to host High Point on Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 before welcoming Bowling Green for a three-game series starting Friday evening. The Friday starter the past two weekends, AJ Russell, is questionable after being pulled from his last start after three innings.
"We're going to be conservative with him and give him a few days," Vitello said, "so I don't know if that means he will miss the weekend. He's certainly not going to be at his pitch count for a couple of weeks, so there are some innings available. Other than Beam being solidified as a weekend starter, everyone else is going to have to mesh outs together for us."
Said Snead, a transfer from Wichita State: "Coach has a plan, and whatever he says is going to go. Whenever he calls my name, I'm going to be ready to go out and give it my all. He's got a plan. He's the big dog for a reason."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.