After a month of non-conference play, the SEC baseball schedule is set to begin this weekend. No. 19 Tennessee will head south to No. 6 Georgia for a three-game series in Athens. Tennessee is coming off a 20-2 victory over Tennessee Tech on Tuesday night.
The Volunteers enter 13-4 overall, yet to play a true road game. Tennessee took two of three in the Amegy Bank College Classic down in Arlington a couple of weeks ago, their only three games away from home so far.
Georgia comes into SEC play with
a 15-3 mark, taking losses to Wright State, Troy and Western Carolina so far. The Bulldogs have won series against Wright State, Oakland, Samford and Queens so far.
Georgia was picked ninth in the SEC in the preseason conference polls. The ‘Dawgs lead the nation in homeruns hit so far, smacking 61 dingers through the first month of play.
Tennessee quickly found an offensive leader this season in the form of Henry Ford, who is now hitting .380 with six homeruns. Rice transfer Blaine Brown is also hitting over .300, hitting five homeruns with 16 RBIs so far this season. Both will get their first taste of SEC play this weekend.
Overall, the Tennessee offense needs to find some sort of consistency pretty quickly here. Levi Clark is hitting just .135 on the season, joined by Chris Newstrom (.205) and Tyler Myatt (.216). Garrett Wright has been a jolt of energy for the lineup, posting a staggering .650 on base percentage through his 14 at-bats since returning from injury.
Tennessee will face Georgia’s 25th-ranked pitching staff, with the Bulldogs posting a 3.31 team ERA so far.
Tennessee-Georgia baseball weekend schedule
Game 1 – Friday 6 pm ET
Tennessee: RHP Tegan Kuhns (4 GS, 1-1, 3.09 ERA)
Georgia: RHP Joey Volchko (4 GS, 4-0, 3.00 ERA)
Game 2 – Saturday 5 pm ET
Tennessee: RHP Landon Mack (4 GS, 3-1, 2.38 ERA)
Georgia: RHP Dylan Vigue (4 GS, 3-1, 1.93 ERA)
Game 3 – Sunday 1 pm ET
Tennessee: LHP Evan Blanco (4 GS, 1-2, 2.75 ERA)
Georgia: LHP Kenny Ishikawa (1 GS, 1-0, 0.00 ERA)
