Top-25 Showdown in Knoxville as No. 24 Alabama Meets with Top-Ranked Tennessee

Top-25 Showdown in Knoxville as No. 24 Alabama Meets with Top-Ranked Tennessee

4/14/2022 8:35:00 AM | Baseball

Game Notes Tennessee Preview Live Stats Watch: Friday Watch: Saturday Watch: Sunday

The Crimson Tide and Volunteers will meet for the 120th time in series history on Friday evening

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama baseball heads eastward to Knoxville for a top-25 showdown with the top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers. The series opener on Friday is set for a 5:30 p.m. CT first pitch at Lindsey Nelson Stadium followed by a 5 p.m. start for game two. Things wrap up on Sunday at 12 p.m. with all three games airing live on SEC Network+.

Follow the Tide

Fans can follow this weekend's games via the below outlets:
Watch: SEC Network+
Listen: 100.9 FM / CTSN / The Varsity App
Twitter: @AlabamaBSB
Live Stats: UTSports.com

Probable Starting Pitching Matchups

FRIDAY: UA – Garrett McMillan (Jr., RHP) vs. UT – Chase Burns (Fr., RHP)
SATURDAY: UA – Jacob McNairy (Sr., RHP) vs. UT – Chase Dollander (So., RHP)
SUNDAY: UA – Grayson Hitt (So., LHP) vs. UT – Drew Beam (Fr., RHP)

Leading Off

Alabama and Tennessee will meet for the 120th time in series history when the two teams square off on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on the UT campus. The Crimson Tide holds the all-time series advantage at 77-42, including a 25-22 mark in Knoxville.
The two cross-division foes last met for two games in the SEC Tournament on May 26 and 28 last season. The Crimson Tide claimed game one with a wild 3-2 victory. The Volunteers followed with an 11-0 victory over the Tide in seven innings two days later. It marked the fifth time the two teams met during the 2021 campaign, with Tennessee holding a 3-2 advantage across the five matchups.
Alabama will open the series in Knoxville with the reigning SEC Pitcher of the Week, junior right-hander Garrett McMillan, on the mound. Senior righty Jacob McNairy will take the hill on Saturday followed by left-hander Grayson Hitt, a sophomore, in Sunday's matchup.
Tennessee will use a trio of right-handers in the weekend series. Freshman Chase Burns gets the call on Friday followed by sophomore Chase Dollander on Saturday. The Vols will then look to freshman Drew Beam in the series finale.

About Alabama

Alabama heads to Knoxville this weekend riding a seven-game winning streak and has won nine of the last 10 games overall. The Crimson Tide swept then-No. 7 Ole Miss in Oxford last weekend before a midweek win against Belmont on Tuesday in Tuscaloosa.
The sweep of Ole Miss was the first by Alabama since March 28-30, 2014, when UA took down the ninth-ranked Rebels in Tuscaloosa. It was also Alabama's first sweep in Oxford since May 3-4, 1997. Additionally, the sweep of the seventh-ranked Rebels was the Tide's first series sweep of a ranked SEC opponent since May 6-7, 2017, when UA downed fourth-ranked Auburn in Auburn.
Alabama leaned on the pitching staff Tuesday afternoon for a 3-1 win over Belmont at Sewell-Thomas Stadium.
Ben Hess recorded his best start to date, totaling 4.0 scoreless innings with one hit and two walks to go with a season-high seven strikeouts for his first career win. Braylon Myers highlighted a foursome of relievers that followed Hess, with the freshman earning his first career save thanks to a scoreless ninth that featured two strikeouts.
The Tide's offense was led by Jim Jarvis and Zane Denton on Tuesday. Both juniors finished 2-for-3 with Jarvis tallying an RBI and one run while Denton recorded a pair of RBI and one walk.
Alabama scored all seven runs across the first five frames to clinch a 7-4 win over Ole Miss last Friday night in Oxford.
The Tide got on the board with one in the first, but OM was able to counter for two in home half and had Tide starter Garrett McMillan on the ropes. The Alabama offense took the lead right back with two runs in the third and added two apiece in the fourth and fifth innings to provide McMillan with all the cushion he would need on the way to the win.
McMillan battled back from that tough first inning to give the Tide a season-high tying 7.0 frames by night's end. The junior tossed 40 pitches in the first but stayed the course and finished with 72 over the final 6.0 innings for a career-high 112 pitches in his start. He allowed two runs (one earned) on three hits and three walks with seven punchouts.
All nine UA starters reached base safely last Friday with seven of the nine recording at least one hit. Jarvis and William Hamiter each posted three-hit efforts with Hamiter adding an RBI and Jarvis totaling a team-high three runs.
A wild, back-and-forth game went to extra innings, with the Crimson Tide coming out on top, 12-10, last Saturday.
The two teams combined for 22 runs and 27 hits, including eight homers, while trading leads all afternoon. Alabama was first on the board with one run in the third, but a pair of solo home runs in the home half gave Ole Miss the lead.
Alabama regained the advantage in the fourth with two runs but another pair of homers – a solo and a three-run shot – for the Rebels in the fourth put them back in front. The Tide was able to get three runs in the sixth before a grand slam from Drew Williamson in the seventh gave UA the advantage once again.
A two-run shot for the Rebels in the eighth cut the lead to one and continued the home run derby, before a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth evened things up at 10 apiece to send the game to extras.
In the top of the 10th, Alabama rallied for a pair of two-out runs. The sequence started with a single from Hamiter. He was followed by Denton with the junior recording his first hit of the weekend – the go-ahead, two-run home run.
Dylan Ray picked up his first win of the season, tossing 2.1 innings and allowing one run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts. The offense was led by Williamson, who went 3-for-5 with a team-high five RBI and three runs to go with a walk and the grand slam. Also tallying three hits was Andrew Pinckney, who finished 3-for-4 with a double, one walk and a team-high tying three runs scored.
Alabama completed the series sweep of Ole Miss with a 7-3 win over the Rebels on getaway day.
The Tide got out front early, scoring one in the first and two in the third. Ole Miss cut into the lead three innings later with a two-run home run in the sixth. Both teams posted one apiece in the seventh, with UA adding one in the eighth on a Pinckney solo homer, and then a pair in the ninth thanks to a two-run bomb from Denton.
Denton led the offense with three RBI as part of his 2-for-5 afternoon that included a double and one run to go with the homer. Pinckney finished 2-for-4, matching Denton with a double and homer, and contributed one RBI to go with a team-high tying two runs scored. Tommy Seidl also homered on Sunday, finishing 1-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored on his solo shot in the seventh.
Grayson Hitt provided Alabama with another strong start on Sunday to pick up his third win. The sophomore allowed three runs on three hits and two walks with a career-high eight strikeouts across a career-long 6.1 innings of work.

About Tennessee

Tony Vitello is in his fifth year at the helm of the Tennessee program and entered 2022 with a career record of 134-68. A 2002 graduate of Missouri, Vitello is assisted by Frank Anderson and Josh Elander along with volunteer assistant Richard Jackson.
Tennessee is coming off an impressive 2021 campaign that saw the Volunteers make their fifth trip to the College World Series and first appearance since 2005. The Vols finished last season at 50-18, including a 20-10 record in SEC play to be crowned SEC Eastern Division champions on their way to Omaha.
The Volunteers were selected to finish fourth in the East and seventh overall in the Southeastern Conference in the league's preseason poll, as voted on by the conference's head coaches.

On Deck

Alabama returns to Tuscaloosa for a midweek matchup against the UAB Blazers on Tuesday, April 19. The in-state contest is scheduled for a 6 p.m. first pitch at The Joe with the game airing on SEC Network+.