Photo via Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee baseball opens up SEC play this weekend when they head to Athens to face Georgia in a three-game series at Foley Field. The Vols’ offense has struggled early this season while the Bulldogs have some offensive firepower in a small ballpark.

Here’s how to watch the three games and more details on the weekend series in Athens.

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Game one: 6 p.m. ET on Friday, March 19

Announcers — PxP: Kalen Frady. Analyst: Brett DeLoach

Streaming — SEC Network+

Game two: 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 20

Announcers — PxP: Richard Cross. Analyst: Gregg Cross

Watch: SEC Network

Streaming — SEC Network

Game three: 1 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 21

Announcers — PxP: Kalen Frady. Analyst: Brett DeLoach

Streaming — SEC Network+

Tennessee’s Recent History In SEC Opening Series

For all the tremendous success of the Tony Vitello era, Tennessee often struggled to hit the ground running in SEC play. The Vols won just three of their eight conference opening series during Vitello’s tenure.

Missouri swept Tennessee in Columbia in 2023 and the 2024 Tennessee national championship team’s lone loss was its SEC opening series at Alabama. There were also successes to open SEC play, sweeping South Carolina at home in 2022 and sweeping Florida at home a year ago.

Georgia is in its third year under head coach Wes Johnson. The Bulldogs are 1-1 in SEC opening series but Kentucky swept Georgia in Lexington two years ago.

These Two Teams Have Two Common Opponents

Tennessee and Georgia have two common opponents in the pre conference slate.

Both teams faced Wright State in a three-game series with both Tennessee and Georgia winning two of the three games. The Bulldogs were a bit more convincing though, out-scoring the Raiders 25-7. Wright State outscored Tennessee, 13-9, despite the Vols winning the series.

Georgia annihilated Oakland in a three-game series at Foley Field. Tennessee faced the Golden Grizzlies in a midweek matchup, defeating them 11-2.

Pitching Matchups

Friday: 

Vols RHP Tegan Kuhns (1-1, 3.09 ERA, 0.90 WHIP, 23.1 IP, 29 K, 4 BB) vs. Bulldogs RHP Joey Volchko (4-0, 3.00 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 21 IP, 24 K, 8 BB)

Saturday:

Vols RHP Landon Mack (3-1, 2.38 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 22.2 IP, 30 K, 9 BB) vs. Bulldogs RHP Dylan Vigue (3-1, 1.93 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, 18.2 IP, 24 K, 7 BB)

Sunday:

Vols LHP Evan Blanco (1-2, 2.75 ERA, 1.12 WHIP, 19.2 IP, 31 K, 10 BB) vs. Bulldogs LHP Kenny Ishikawa (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 0.69 WHIP, 4.1 IP, 8 K, 2 BB)

A Quick Prediction

This feels like a tough early draw for a Tennessee team struggling to find its way early this season. Georgia is one of the SEC’s few teams that really has not struggled any in pre conference play.

The Bulldogs have a high powered offense and a solid starting rotation. Playing at a hitter friendly ballpark, it feels like Tennessee needs to be able to produce offensively more than they have so far this season to have any true success.

I have a hard time seeing Tennessee picking up the series win but I’ll pick the Vols to salvage the series with one victory.

Georgia wins two out of three