Vanderbilt, Tennessee baseball dealing with pitching uncertainty before rivalry series

Coming into the season, it seemed like Vanderbilt baseball and Tennessee would have two of the country's top rotations. The Vols were the headliner, returning all three primary starters: Chase Dollander, Chase Burns and Drew Beam.

But it became clear that the Commodores' rotation, led by Carter Holton, Hunter Owen and Devin Futrell, might be even better. Vanderbilt leads the SEC in ERA in league games at 4.04 heading into the three-game series starting Friday in Knoxville. In conference games, Tennessee tops the league in strikeout-to-walk ratio, while the Commodores have the best walk rate.

Both teams are dealing with uncertainty, though. Vanderbilt (29-8, 13-2 SEC) has seen both Holton and Owen miss time in the past few weeks, and while Holton returned against South Carolina, he was ineffective. Owen is "day-to-day," Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin said on the "Commodore Hour" radio show. If Owen can't go, the Commodores are most likely to turn to Bryce Cunningham, who has made starts against South Carolina and Missouri.

Tennessee's pitching staff is healthier, but Burns in particular has struggled and pitched out of the bullpen against Arkansas while Dollander moved from starting Friday to Saturday. The Vols (23-14, 5-10) rank sixth in the SEC with a 5.16 ERA.

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Defensive differences

Vanderbilt has had a strong defense this year, ranking second in conference games with a .986 fielding percentage and giving up just four unearned runs during SEC play.

Tennessee, on the other hand, has given up 23 unearned runs during conference play with a .952 fielding percentage, last in the league. That has resulted in further pressure on the pitching staff, which can't rely on balls in play turning into outs.

One positive is that Burns and Dollander still have sterling strikeout rates, with Burns striking out 14.3 batters per nine innings and Dollander striking out 13.5. All but one pitcher on the Vols' staff strikes out at least a batter per inning.

No matter who pitches for Tennessee, defense has been a struggle, but Beam has been the biggest victim. He's allowed 28 runs this year but just 17 of those have been earned. At Vanderbilt, no pitcher has allowed more than three unearned runs this season.

Injury uncertainty

Tennessee's staff has stayed relatively healthy, but the Vols have had one key injury: reliever Zach Joyce, who left Tuesday's loss to Tennessee Tech.

Vanderbilt has been without swingmen Grayson Moore and Andrew Dutkanych for SEC play, and Owen's status is also uncertain. Corbin said on Sunday that Holton was fully healthy and would bounce back from his outing against South Carolina.

Since Burns was pulled from the rotation, Andrew Lindsey took the Friday spot against Arkansas. Lindsey, a transfer from Charlotte, has a 2.49 ERA in 25⅓ innings.

Familiarity

With both Vanderbilt and Tennessee returning large portions of their pitching staffs, the two teams should be familiar with each other. Both Holton and Futrell made starts against the Vols last season, allowing a combined nine runs in eight innings. But Christian Moore is the only player on the team who faced either of them last season, and Moore is questionable this weekend with an injury.

Owen and Cunningham also made relief appearances against Tennessee and fared better, pitching a combined six scoreless innings with nine strikeouts.

As with Holton and Futrell, Moore is the only remaining Vols player to have faced Owen last season. Cunningham faced Tennessee first baseman Blake Burke, striking him out.

Among Vanderbilt position players, Enrique Bradfield Jr., Davis Diaz and Jack Bulger faced all three of Dollander, Burns and Beam. Parker Noland faced Dollander and Jonathan Vastine faced Beam.

Of those players, Bradfield was the only one to have any success. He hit a home run off Dollander and a single off Burns. None of the other players reached base.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt vs. Tennessee baseball: Pitching uncertain in rivalry