A changeup for Tennessee’s starting rotation ahead of Arkansas series

Tennessee baseball has made a slight change to the weekend’s probable pitching rotation, that was submitted to the league on Wednesday, as the Vols gear up for the final regular-season series of the year at Arkansas this weekend in Southeastern Conference action.

No. 17 Tennessee (40-13, 15-12 SEC) kick things off in Fayetteville against the No. 8 Razorbacks (41-11, 18-9 SEC) Thursday night at 8 o’clock ET on ESPN2. Friday’s Game 2 will begin at 7:30 PM ET and will be streamed on the SEC Network+ while the Saturday afternoon finale will take place at 3 o’clock ET on the SEC Network.

RHP Marcus Phillips (3-4, 3.55 ERA) will bump up a spot in the rotation and get the ball for the series-opener on Thursday while LHP Liam Doyle (9-2, 2.17 ERA) will stay on his normal routine with five days of rest and pitch on Friday. Freshman righty Tegan Kuhns (2-2, 3.78 ERA) will start the series-finale for the Volunteers.

Doyle, who is having an All-American season during his debut year on Rocky Top, has been dealing with a blister on his throwing middle finger the past few weeks. It caused him some issues at the tail end of his start against Texas A&M on April 4 and then again last Friday against Vanderbilt. The move is also prompted due to his workload in recent weeks, that included two appearances in the Auburn series.

“We take pretty good care of it. We try our best to deal with it,” Doyle said last Friday on the blister. “Sometimes it comes up in a different spot. Just happens. I feel like I grip down on the ball pretty hard compared to some other people, so it just happens naturally after 70 or 80 pitches. That’s when it starts to get weak or whatever. It is what it is. Fight through it.”

Tony Vitello acknowledge it’s something the southpaw has been dealing with during his media appearance after the Doyle start against the Commodores. A full week of rest was hinted towards at the time and that’s the path the skipper and his staff have elected this week for the lefty.

“It’s something he’s battled with. Him and Woody (trainer Jeff Wood) have hooked up, and I think really managed the thing well,” Vitello said last week. “I think it truly was an issue for the first time, and it’s been something to manage. But I think it truly was an issue with the losing of the command and the hit by pitch, and then, full credit, big, strong guy (Vanderbilt catcher Colin Barczi) hits the ball as far as he did. But I don’t know that he saw the best version of Liam there because of it.

“It’s hard to take Liam out of the game, no matter what the pitch count is or what the situation is. So yeah, he’ll have a full week to do everything he needs to do. I know I mentioned that earlier, is you can’t use it as an excuse, but with the blister and everything else, that’ll help. I guess not a full week. Thursday start (next week at Arkansas), but you get the gist. Hopefully.”

Phillips, who will be working on just four days of rest, has pitched solid this season, his first in the starting rotation for the Vols. Base runners and their willingness to steal against the hard-throwing righty has been an issue for the starter in conference play, but according to Vitello, it’s about the mindset for Phillips.  

“I don’t know what the standings are, but I know Florida is playing better than they were here record-wise, but that lineup’s really good, and he was, they weren’t going to score off him that day,” the skipper said of Phillips on Tuesday. “The last time we were on the road, if I’m not mistaken, he helped salvage a weekend that could have been miserable. If he chooses to look back on his highlights in his own mind and call upon that for confidence, that’s fine, but he doesn’t need to do that. He just needs to have the self belief that he has earned at this point. And you know he’s going to go out there and compete.”

Kuhns started every SEC weekend for Tennessee this season up to the LSU and Auburn series when he came out of the bullpen. Due to the weather altered series with the Tigers, Kuhns received a ‘spot start’ of sorts when Game 1 resumed Saturday morning in the bottom of the first inning. Over his past two appearances, the freshman has allowed four runs (three earned) on eight hits in 8.1 innings pitched with 11 strikeouts to a pair of walks.

Arkansas will throw LHP Zach Root (6-3, 3.88 ERA) in Game 1 and RHP Gage Wood (1-1, 5.51 ERA) in the series-finale against Tennessee. Friday’s Game 2 is listed as TBA by the Hogs.

Tennessee is currently on the outside looking in on this week’s D1 Baseball Field of 64 projections in terms of hosting an NCAA Regional as the Vols are slated as the No. 2 seed in the Morgantown Regional. The Hogs are slated as the No. 3 overall seed by the publication. The Vols are currently tied for seventh in the SEC standings while Arkansas is second behind the Longhorns.