Tennessee ascended to a No. 1 ranking and to the top overall seed in the NCAA tournament last season behind veteran hitters and the consistent weekend pitching rotation of Chase Dollander, Chase Burns and Drew Beam.
Dollander, Burns and Beam combined for a sparkling 26-3 record, with all three posting earned run averages below 3.00.
This year’s Volunteers have adjusted to new faces at the plate and in the field, and the rotation has undergone a transformation as well with Andrew Lindsey, Dollander and Beam comprising the weekend starters and with Burns providing relief. The new look on the mound didn’t yield any wins at Arkansas, but Lindsey, Dollander, Beam and Burns were quite stellar this past weekend in the sweep of No. 4 Vanderbilt that has resulted in Tennessee jumping from 41st to 26th in the RPI rankings and going from unranked to No. 24 in Monday’s D1 Baseball poll.
The Vols held the Commodores to an average of three runs per game, so having only Beam in the same weekend spot from a year ago could be coach Tony Vitello’s plan the rest of the way.