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Nate Snead to start series finale against Hofstra for the Vols

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•02/15/25•

_Cainer

Nate Snead fires in a fastball for Tennessee against Ole Miss on March 24. Credit: UT Athletics
Nate Snead fires in a fastball for Tennessee against Ole Miss on March 24. Credit: UT Athletics

Tennessee’s versatile right-handed pitcher Nate Snead will start the series finale against Hofstra on Sunday for the Vols, according to head coach Tony Vitello following the 18-1 thumping of the visitors on Saturday afternoon.

Sunday’s Game 3 is set to begin at 11 o’clock AM eastern time from Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Liam Doyle and Marcus Phillips started the first two games of the season for Tennessee and looked good doing it, combining to go nine innings of shutout baseball. Doyle struck out 11 in his outing while Phillips stranded four men on bases – including two in scoring position.

Since Snead did not make a relief appearance in either one of those ballgames, it was fairly obvious what Vitello was going to say when asked the question in the postgame press conference.

“Snead will start and then we’ll go from there,” the coach answered. “Obviously, [Andrew] Behnke, he’s not thrown yet. We had him down there. [Ryan] Combs has not thrown yet. There’s several freshmen that are probably looking in between every inning to see if they need to run down to the ‘pen and have their first career outing.

“Snead will get a true start tomorrow, kind of like these last two guys did. Then your question, we can revisit it after the game. He’ll be a Swiss army knife for us no matter how tomorrow goes on.”

The weapon started one game in 2024 but spent half the season in a piggyback role on Sundays. Snead is fine with however the coaching staff wants to use him this spring.

“Honestly, anything. Coach is going to put me in any position he sees best fits and I’m going to go out there and do my job,” Snead told the media two weeks ago when asked what his expectations were for the year. “There’s not much of a role that I didn’t face last year that I couldn’t overcome, so it is whatever coach V [Tony Vitello] wants.”  

Snead was a USA Baseball Collegiate National Team participant last summer after logging 75.1 innings in 2023 with a 10-2 record over 29 appearances and one [true] start. The power-throwing righty who reached triple digits often struck out 61, walked 26 and locked down six saves out of the bullpen.   

“He is a guy who still carries the value that he had last year. He’s a fun loving kid that’s a great personality to having it dugout and in the locker room and then he switches, that switch turns on for him into game mode,” Vitello said in preseason. “And he constantly wants the ball, he constantly wants to compete. He’s resilient physically so he always wants to be out there regardless of what day it is or what he did the day before. And so, he’s been a Swiss Army knife for us, not just last year but including in these scrimmages. So yeah, I think he’s capable of doing whatever we ask.”

Snead was named a second-team All-American and the No. 38 junior ahead of the 2025 season by Perfect Game. The pitcher was also marked at No. 69 in MLB.com’s top-100 draft prospects. He was instrumental in the Vols’ postseason run last year, tossing 142 pitches in Omaha across five games and eight innings while allowing just one run on four combined hits. Without Snead, Tennessee doesn’t win the College World Series.

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