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Vols to ‘flush’ Saturday and move on as ‘quickly as possible’

On3 imageby:Eric Cain•05/10/25•

_Cainer

Tennessee Baseball. Credit: UT Athletics
Tennessee Baseball. Credit: UT Athletics

Tennessee baseball is once again playing for a series-win on Sunday afternoon. It’s the seventh time the Vols have lined up for a rubber match this season, so it’s pretty much routine at this point.

Problem is, Tennessee has dropped three-straight rubber matches and are just 2-4 in such games leading into tomorrow.  

“Just going out and playing our game. Not trying to do too much,” left fielder Dalton Bargo said postgame. “Not worrying about anything further down the road or in the past. Just handle it day-by-day, pitch-by-pitch and just scrab out some wins.”

The Vols are playing for a lot on Sunday. Tennessee has dropped three-straight series and four of its past five weekends. Vanderbilt and UT are both battling for a double-bye in the Southeastern Conference Tournament. And to top things off, Tennessee hasn’t won back-to-back league games since taking the series finale at Ole Miss on April 13 and the series-opener against Kentucky April 18.  

And for a team that dropped a four-run decision on Saturday, frustration can not settle in when there’s another game to be played the following afternoon.

“Just rest up and recover. Flush it as fast as you can. It’s a 1-1 series and anything goes tomorrow,” Bargo continued. “It’s just about moving on from today as fast as possible and trying to get ready for tomorrow.”

“For this one, it’s take off the jersey and it’s a new day tomorrow. Just reset and play our game.”

For Tony Vitello, he expects to see a lot of the same from the first two games in the series. Two heavyweight fighters going at it in the toughest conference in all of college baseball. The skipper believes his team needs to be ready for anything.

“Punches thrown back and forth. Last night, tonight, really good plays defensively. We’ve seen some guys that could pitch in the big leagues tomorrow, on both sides, both lineups,” the coach said. “Now both teams should be relatively familiar with. I mean, both of us have the capability of maybe altering a guy or two, but you show up to the park, you have fun during pregame, and no reason to stop having fun. It’s baseball. You have fun during the game, but obviously it’s a competition at the highest level where, you’re trying to finish the weekend on Sunday. That’s why Sunday is an important day. And see what we get.”

With four games remaining on the SEC slate, all games are important. Tennessee is currently battling for hosting rights in postseason play. According to the projections last week, the Vols are a regional host as of now. If Tennessee wants to be in position to host a super regional, more work needs to be done.

Sunday is a great time to break out of the ‘slump.’ The Vols have an excellent opportunity to win their first weekend series in just about a month. A win could instill confidence ahead of ending the regular season on the road at Arkansas and further solidify chances of hosting deep into postseason.  

It all comes down to a Sunday rubber match. Here’s to seeing if the Vols can find a different outcome this go-around.

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