Tennessee starter AJ Russell exits game with 'general soreness'

Tennessee pitcher AJ Russell started in the Volunteers’ 8-5 win over Albany on Friday. However, after only three innings, Russell left the game due to general soreness, per Volquest’s Eric Cain.

“Just some soreness and we’ve kind of been harping to our players to communicate with us with what’s going on,” Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello said after the game. “It could be anything. You turn an ankle and it’s sore. You got a blister.

“He had some soreness in a certain part of his body. I don’t know if it was necessarily [his] arm. I kind of leave that up to those guys. Maybe it’s my mechanism. I don’t have any control of it, so I don’t want to stress until we’ve got the full word, but we got enough word to take him out of the game and give the ball off to [Chris Stamos] there.”

Against 11 batters, Russell gave up three hits and zero runs. He tallied four strikeouts before leaving the game. While Russell wasn’t able to complete the game, his fellow pitchers had his back. Pitchers Chris Stamos and AJ Causey also each pitched three innings.

“He’s a guy who’s fortunately put on some weight and added to his physique a lot,” Vitello continued on Russell. “He has kind of made adjustments — I’m going over the course of his whole career — made some adjustments throwing-program wise, so he’s certainly put in all of his work.

“I think he’s dealt with a blister or something with finger before, but nothing that kind of attaches itself to this. We’ll await word.”

AJ Russell reflects on first start of the season

Russell also pitched in Tennessee’s win over Texas Tech on Feb. 16. In the victory, Russell held the mound for four innings and allowed two runs while notching 10 strikeouts. Vitello isn’t the only who’s noticed a difference in Russell’s strength.

“I felt really good tonight. I think warmups and all that was good but it was a little rushed. I didn’t realize after the national anthem I would be pitching right away,” Russell said Tennessee’s win against the Red Raiders. “I thought it went well.

“I think the biggest difference is overall strength and comfortability out there. It’s a little less nerve racking each time I get out there. I think that’s helped a lot.”

Tennessee will face off against Albany again on Saturday at noon. The game will be broadcast on the SEC Network+.