Tennessee's Tony Vitello says Vols likely to stay with same pitching rotation

Tennessee opens regional play at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Friday evening as the Vols host Miami-Ohio. 

For head coach Tony Vitello, the million dollar question is what do you do with your pitching rotation for the weekend. Staying in the winner’s bracket is obviously the goal for all four teams in the regional and when you are deep on the mound, being in the winners bracket is a must.

That leaves Vitello and Tennessee veteran pitching coach Frank Anderson in an interesting spot. Do you throw your ace Liam Doyle? Doyle is 9-3 on the season with a 3.04 ERA throwing at team high 83 innings. Or do you go with Marcus Phillips, Tennessee’s Saturday starter who has a 3.64 ERA with a 3-4 record. Then there is the option of throwing someone set like AJ Russell or Brandon Arvidson. Arvidson had his best out of the year last week at the SEC Tournament. On Tuesday, Vitello indicated that he would likely stay with his regular weekend order.

“Yeah, more than likely,” Vitello said of Doyle getting the ball Friday night in the opener. “We got some bullpens today, so we’ll see how those go and then have conversations. But that’s  kind of been the order that held true through the season until we had schedule quirks there with the Thursday series and the tournament.”

Vitello didn’t slam the door on possibly tweaking things but said his focus was not thinking about Saturday or overthinking the weekend in general.

“So regardless of how we do it, we’re not looking to out-strategize anybody this time of year,” Vitello said. “Just out-compete people, or compete to the best of our abilities, and hopefully that gets us where we want, and if it doesn’t, maybe the fans give us an edge that pushes us over the top. Because that’s been the case a few times this time of year for us, when we’ve been fortunate enough to be in Knoxville.

“I think just worrying about what’s in front of you is the biggest thing. What inning is in front of you, and a guy that I’ve got a lot of respect for, kind of an indirect way taught me you got to think about the one game that’s in front of you. Now in a tournament format, you can’t get blinded by the fact that there is a tomorrow and things like that. And that’s maybe benefited us too, like in last year’s final series we played and things like that. Fortunately, it worked out in our favor, but overall, we’re looking at the first inning against Miami of Ohio. There’s two other teams (Wake Forest and Cincinnati) that will be at our park. They’ll play before us, so it’s impossible to not recognize who they are. They’re both talented, but really it’s about the pregame and the first inning against Miami of Ohio.”

Miami of Ohio brings in the best pitcher in the MAC (Mid-American Conference). Redshirt sophomore right-hander Cooper Katskee went 11-1 in 15 starts with a 2.66 ERA over a team-high 81.1 innings pitched. He has a 0.98 WHIP and has 69 strikeouts against 26 walks. He started nine times in 15 appearances this season, with two complete games and 11 outings of five innings or longer. Opposing batter are hitting .186 against Katskee.

And that perhaps is another reason to throw Doyle as Friday night could be a pitching dual. 

First pitch for Tennessee and the Redhawks will be at 6pm ET, Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The game will be streamed on ESPN+.