Tennessee baseball begins its postseason run to defend its World Series title with the Knoxville Regional. The Vols will face Miami (OH) on Friday night at 5:00 PM ET to begin Tennessee's postseason.
Vols ace Liam Doyle will take the mound Friday night to help the Vols get off to a positive start. It is expected Marcus Phillips will follow Doyle and be Saturday's starter.
While the Vols typically wouldn't have to worry too much about a No. 4 seed, Miami (OH) offers a unique challenge as a four-seed in the Knoxville Regional. Cincinnati head coach Jordan Bischel went as far as to warn the Vols of how good the Redhawks actually are ahead of their Friday night matchup.
"They're good, they're really good," said Bischel when asked about Miami (OH). "The top of their lineup is real. They're threats to hit it out of the park. They've got good hitting approaches. We obviously didn't see their weekend arms during the season, but the guy they'll start against Tennessee, the numbers are real.
"But they're a top 100 RPI (team). When you get those four seeds that are No. 175 in the RPI, you might be able to save an arm or whatever. But Tennessee is gonna have to go after that one. They're tough. It's an experienced top of the order that does a good job."
Cooper Katskee will start Friday night's game for the Redhawks. He brings a 2.66 ERA with over 81 innings of work to the mound for Miami (OH).
It is clear Tennessee isn't taking Miami lightly, as the Vols are putting their ace on the mound to open the weekend. The Vols face some tough competition in the Knoxville Regional but are the clear favorite to make it out of the region and advance to the Super Regionals.