Following last weekend’s three-game sweep of Albany, seventh-year Tennessee baseball coach Tony Vitello described his pitching staff as entrenched starter Drew Beam and a bunch of guys who “just need to be ready to go when their name is called.”
AJ Causey was more than ready Friday in the series opener against Bowling Green.
The transfer from Jacksonville State made the most of his first start for the No. 8 Volunteers, working seven innings and amassing nine strikeouts while allowing just one hit and one run during an 11-1 whipping that was called after eight innings. An announced crowd of 4,446 at Lindsey Nelson Stadium watched Tennessee improve to 9-1.
Causey pitched for a third consecutive Friday, having spent the first two in a relief role for AJ Russell, who left last Friday’s game due to soreness.
“I had basically been starting — just later in the game,” Causey said afterward in a news conference, “so it’s basically the same preparation, bullpen days, workouts and all that stuff.”