Pitcher AJ Russell not on active roster for Knoxville Regional

Tennessee sophomore right-hander pitcher AJ Russell is not on the active roster this weekend for the Knoxville Regional in NCAA postseason action, Tony Vitello confirmed after the game.

“No, he is not active and will probably get looked at again. We haven’t fast-forward there, but just based off playing catch, there’s no need to battle the soreness factor, step one. And then step two would be to make sure he’s good to go and should be throwing at all,” the coach said in postgame. “What he did for us on Sunday was great. I think it was obvious though, with his couple of outings, he did give us what – really been what his best version of himself is since Texas Tech. If anything, I think it alleviates the cloud – for these guys too [gestures to players] – not just him but others too. What is and what isn’t. So at least we are on one side of the fence than the other. Everyone knows we’d rather be fully on the other, but at least there is some clarity there. He won’t be active.”

When asked if that meant the hurler would be shut down for the remainder of the season, the coach said, ‘He’s going to get looked at and we will figure that out.’

Russell made his second appearance back from lengthy injury in Sunday’s Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament championship game against LSU – a game Tennessee won 4-3 over the Tigers – when the ESPN broadcast showed athletic trainer Jeff Wood checking on Russell in the Tennessee dugout after the first inning.

“I don’t know what the broadcast showed but Woody and him were going to sync up, regardless, how do you feel and where are you at with everything,” the coach said afterwards in the postgame press conference.

Russell wasn’t scheduled to pitch more than one or maybe two innings in the contest. He surrendered a towering 471 foot home run off the bat of Jared Jones in the first inning as the Tigers took an early 1-0 lead after first corralling a pair of quick outs.

“I think that is the one guy that you don’t know exactly if he will be available or what would be available,” Tony Vitello said Wednesday when asked of Russell’s availability for the regional. “We will see. He has been eager to compete, which obviously he has done sparingly. We have tried to meet him in the middle of what is the best thing to do. But he has been sore. To this point, we have probably pressed it as good as we can.

“If it was a normal weekend, he probably wouldn’t pitch. But as we made it to the fifth game of the week and he had some time to bounce back, he wanted the ball and was not going to go more than an inning. I think if he is available and he does throw, same thing. No more than two or three outs. If not, it has been a staff that has had to manufacture outs or operate without him other than him being in the dugout, which would certainly add value as well.”

Russell faced five batters, hit a batter and struck out two over 22 pitches during a scoreless relief appearance on Wednesday against Vanderbilt in the tournament – his first actin back on the mound. It was his first outing in 60 days after coming back from his second lengthy injury of the season.

It was his first action since leaving the top of the ninth inning in a game against Ole Miss on March 23, spanning a total of 60 days. It was the second lengthy absence of the season for the pitcher, as he also missed a total of 30 days earlier in the campaign as well.

Russell had made just six appearances on the injury-plagued season with four starts over a total of 14.1 innings where he’s surrendered eight runs off 12 hits with 21 strikeouts to eight walks, registering a 5.02 ERA.

Tennessee opens play in the Knoxville Regional Friday night at 7 o’clock eastern time on the SEC Network. Earlier in the Knoxville Regional, No. 3 seed Indiana made quick work of No. 2 seed Southern Miss and will await the winner of Tennessee and Northern Kentucky for a Saturday 6 o’clock eastern showdown.