Who doesn't get fired up for playoff baseball? The Vols open up the NCAA Tournament this Friday at Noon in Chapel Hill, taking on No. 3 seed East Carolina in what will likely prove to be a very tough four-team bracket. It will also be the first-ever NCAA Tournament game for Josh Elander as a head coach, and he's excited about the progress the Vols have made.
“At this point, with this club, just proud of it," said Elander. "I saw, somebody sent me a deal, like half the teams that were in Omaha last year, are not even in the postseason, which is wild to think about. If you just look at the parity across college baseball and some championship-level programs that are not in the dance, I think everybody in our league specifically respects how hard it is to get in the postseason with how competitive it is."
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Despite the excitement, Josh Elander still has some big decisions to make, and his first major one is already questionable. He provided an update on Friday’s matchup against East Carolina, revealing that Evan Blanco will get the Game 1 start in a bit of a surprise move.
"I don't look at it like that, like we're saving Tegan by any means," said Elander. "Blanco is a guy that we have a lot of confidence in, he's thrown in the College World Series, and it's no discredit to anybody else, but as we're waiting on (Landon) Mack, there's a lot of different things that are in place. We're preparing for any kind of situation, but simply, it came down to Evan Blanco, we feel comfortable giving him the ball of the gate. We ain't saving anybody for anything. We're trying to win this first game."
Tennessee going with Evan Blanco game one vs ECU
I’m not really a fan of this move. In a situation like this, you give your ace the Game 1 start, plain and simple. Evan Blanco has been better than the numbers show. I won’t argue that. But Tegan Kuhns has been Tennessee’s Friday starter and ace all year. Let him go out there and set the tone for the tournament.
If Tennessee loses, then what happens? The Vols will burn Kuhns in what will be a must-win game against VCU. Don't get me wrong, you need to win that game, but wouldn't you rather have Kuhns out there against a more dominant lineup? It feels like Elander is playing with fire with this move, but ultimately, this is his team and his decision. If Tennessee does win, however, they will get to use Kuhns against what would likely be North Carolina, which would be nice.
Even if Elander doesn’t say it publicly, that might be the thinking here. Blanco is a solid arm, and it’s not a massive drop-off from Kuhns, but I’m in the camp that you start your best guy and go from there.
Ultimately, how far the Vols go will depend on the bullpen, as that’s the true X-factor here. If the starter can go deep into games and avoid putting Tennessee's bullpen in bad matchups or high-leverage spots, then Tennessee has a good chance to move on.
Elander is making his first bold move of the tournamrnt, and I sure hope it pays off.
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