The Tennessee Volunteers have been sensational as of late, but they’ve been roadkill all season.
They can’t be both for long.
Tennessee’s 31-14 overall record entering this weekend’s series at Georgia consists of a sparkling 29-4 mark inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium and an abysmal 2-10 showing away from it. The Vols are riding an eight-game winning streak and are No. 18 in the latest D1 Baseball poll, so there is no time like the present to address that staggering discrepancy.
“It’s really fun to be at home, and every SEC team that’s really good is really good at home,” Vols coach Tony Vitello said in a news conference after Tuesday night’s 13-3 trampling of visiting Wofford. “It’s better to be the hero, but sometimes you’ve got to go on the road and be the villain. Playing Bane would be fun, too, and not just Batman — especially if you don’t have that bad voice Christian Bale had going on in that deal.”
Vitello’s Vols thrived as the villains last season, as their 19-4 record away from Knoxville was just as impressive as their 38-5 home mark. This year was different out of the gate, as Tennessee opened in February in the Phoenix area with a 3-1 loss to Arizona and a 4-3 loss to Grand Canyon before blanking UC San Diego 7-0.
The Vols then played 15 consecutive nonconference home games, stumbling only in a 7-6 loss to Boston College in 10 innings, but they opened Southeastern Conference play by getting swept and outscored 23-6 at a frigid Missouri, which has gone 2-16 in league play since. Tennessee did win once at top-ranked LSU but got swept at Arkansas by the combined count of 18-7.
“The Arizona trip was a unique one,” Vitello said. “We had guys who were missing in action, and it was our first trip. That one was quirky, and then you go to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field. They played well and we didn’t.
“Arkansas and LSU are two of the tougher environments out there, so each weekend has presented completely different circumstances.”
The Vols head to Athens having notched walk-off wins over Vanderbilt and Mississippi State during their surge and run-rule victories over those two teams as well. Tennessee also needed just seven innings to subdue the Terriers on Tuesday, so this is the most impressive stretch of the season by far for the Vols.
“We just need to keep the same energy that we’ve had these past few weeks,” Vols left fielder Jared Dickey said. “Our dugout has been really good at staying in the game the whole time. Our pitchers have been doing a good job of pounding the strike zone, and our hitters are sticking to their approach.
“That’s pretty much all you can ask for.”
The Vols are above .500 in SEC play for the first time this season at 11-10, and they would like to keep it that way against a Georgia team that is 25-20 overall and 8-13 within the league. Despite that losing conference mark, the Bulldogs are a solid 23rd in the RPI rankings and may have the urgency advantage this weekend given Tennessee’s healthier status — the Vols are 16th in the RPI — in the looming NCAA tournament landscape.
The Bulldogs lost last year’s series at Tennessee but did win the finale 8-3.
“They’ve got some guys who have been around for a while,” Vitello said. “That’s the thing about them that sticks out the most. COVID is still factoring into these rosters to where some teams have some really older pieces.”
Odds and ends
Friday night’s opener starts at 6, with Saturday afternoon’s matchup scheduled for 2 and Sunday’s finale at 1. … All three games are accompanied by the SEC Network+ streaming option. … Georgia’s plethora of experienced players is allowing sophomore pitcher Jake Poindexter to redshirt this spring. The 5-foot-11, 195-pound former Gordon Lee standout appeared five times in relief last season.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.