Tennessee and Auburn series-opener suspended in first inning due to weather

Tennessee Baseball and Auburn are done playing baseball Friday night as play has been suspended in the bottom of the first inning due to weather. Action got underway at 8 PM ET before play was stalled again prior to the home half of the first.

The completion of game one of the series will take place on Saturday at 11 AM ET. Game 2 of the series will follow 30 minutes following the end of Game 1 on Saturday. It will also be a nine-inning affair. Game 3 is on as scheduled for Sunday at 1 PM ET.

Ike Irish homered with a man on first base and Auburn currently leads 2-0 in the series-opener. The in-game delay began 8:13 PM ET.

Game one was supposed to showcase a dominant pitching matchup between LHP Liam Doyle (7-1, 2.23 ERA) and RHP Samuel Dutton (5-2, 2.48 ERA). RHP Marcus Phillips (3-3, 2.93 ERA) is slated to take on RHP Cam Tilly (2-1, 4.60 ERA) in game two while AJ Russell (0-0, 2.45 ERA) will get the nod for the Vols in the series-finale.

The regular season’s final homestand will be critical for the No. 12 Vols (36-9, 13-8 SEC), who currently find themselves in fourth place in the league standings. Up next is a weekend showdown with No. 10 Auburn (31-14, 11-10 SEC) who is coming off a series-win at home over Mississippi State.

The Tigers boast conference series-victories over Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Alabama, LSU (sweep) and Mississippi State and have dropped weekend series with Georgia (sweep) and Texas (sweep) – both on the road. Despite the solid season to date for the Tigers, Auburn is just 4-8 in true road games this season.

“That guy (HC Butch Thompson) has been there for a while, and he’s been really good. And if you check his resume before he was there, he’s always been really good, and he knows the league,” Tony Vitello said on Tuesday. “So, they’ve always been good. They’ve always been well coached. They’ve always been competitive. But I think this year, they’ve got a lot of older hitters. They found a guy, transfers from Baton Rouge, and they found a guy (Samuel Dutton) that’s a perfect niche for them on Friday. Got a big arm behind him (Cade Fisher), and then a couple other things going on, on that roster. 

“But I just think they got probably a good group of guys. They probably feel good about the way they’re playing as far as the guys in the locker room.”