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Tennessee Baseball Huge Opportunity: Keys for Vols in Weekend Series vs No. 12 Kentucky Wildcats

By Caleb Calhoun

Sep 5, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers fans flies the United States flag and the Volunteer flag prior to the game against the Bowling Green Falcons at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports
Sep 5, 2015; Nashville, TN, USA; Tennessee Volunteers fans flies the United States flag and the Volunteer flag prior to the game against the Bowling Green Falcons at Nissan Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim Brown-USA TODAY Sports /
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Tennessee baseball has a huge opportunity this weekend in a series against the No. 12 ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Here are the keys for the Volunteers.

In the midst of a three-game winning streak, including a dominant midweek stretch in which they blew out two separate teams on back to back nights, Dave Serrano’s Vols are continuing their fight to reach the NCAA Tournament…and to help Serrano keep his job.

That fight continues this weekend with a major opportunity as Tennessee hosts the No. 12 ranked Kentucky Wildcats at Lindsay-Nelson Stadium Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

The bats for Tennessee have come back alive over the past week, and it’s at the perfect time as they face a Wildcats team that has won both SEC series it’s been in so far this year, including a series against the No. 1 ranked Florida Gators.

This is a series where Tennessee will finally prove what it is as a baseball club. With that importance in mind, here are the three keys for the Vols in this weekend series against the Wildcats.

1. Patience at the Plate

Tennessee is going up against a collection of veteran Kentucky pitchers. Saturday’s pitcher, Dustin Beggs, is currently 6-0 and boasting a 2.40 ERA. Meanwhile, Sunday’s pitcher, Kyle Cody, is a 2015 MLB Draft pick, and although his current ERA is 6.43, the law of averages says that’s bound to come down given his skill.

As a result, the high-powered Vols offense, which has gotten back on track recently, will have to be patient against this unit if it is going to win any game in this series. Tennessee players are very aggressive on the base paths, which gives them a bit of leeway in terms of plate discipline sometimes. That discipline cannot be forgotten about this weekend, though.

2. Benito Santiago

After losing senior leadoff hitter Jeff Moberg for the season to a torn ACL, Tennessee’s offense took a nosedive. The Vols lost the first two games of last weekend’s series against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Then came a bold move by Dave Serrano to move catcher Benito Santiago to leadoff.

As GoVols has reported, Tennessee’s offensive numbers are back to where they were before Moberg’s injury since that move, starting with a 6-3 victory against the Tide to avoid a sweep in last week’s series and continuing with midweek dominance against Middle Tennessee and UNC Asheville. Santiago has been a major force during that time, going 5-for-11 with six runs scored during that time. He’s got to continue that to keep the offense moving in this series.

More volunteers: Tennessee Basketball: 5 Most Memorable Vols NCAA Tournament Games

3. Consistency from Relief Pitchers

Tennessee’s starting pitchers have been pretty good so far this year. Aaron Soto will take the mound first on Friday, and Zach Warren will look to continue his incredible season Saturday before Andy Cox takes the mound Sunday afternoon. The Vols starters aren’t Kentucky pitchers, but they are decent. They just need help.

That’s where the bullpen comes in. Kentucky, as we mentioned, is a veteran team and will be looking for late mistakes from the Vols. They have to do their best to avoid that to win this series, and they certainly want to win this series. It will take some depth in the pitching rotation for that to happen.

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