2022 SEC Baseball Series Preview: No. 1 Tennessee vs Georgia
When: Thursday, May 12 – Saturday, May 14
Location: Lindsey Nelson Stadium, Knoxville, TN
An important weekend altogether for the conference, one of the headline series’ for SEC Baseball this weekend comes in Knoxville from top-ranked Tennessee welcoming Georgia to town for an SEC East matchup.
Start Times
Game 1: Thursday, May 12 at 7:00 PM ET on ESPNU
Game 2: Friday, May 13 at 5:30 PM ET on SEC Network
Game 3: Saturday, May 14 at 1:00 PM ET on SEC Network+
The No. 1 team in the country, Tennessee enters the weekend with a 43-6 overall record for the year, as well as a 20-4 record within SEC Baseball. The Volunteers however are also coming off their first series loss in conference play this season, with Tennessee having dropped two-of-three games last weekend against Kentucky in Lexington, followed by an 11-5 mid-week win over Bellarmine on Tuesday.
Owning a 31-2 record in Knoxville this season, Tennessee are led offensively by one of the SEC Player of the Year favorites in third baseman Trey Lipscomb (19 HR, 1.194 OPS), as well as star centerfielder Drew Gilbert, who leads the Volunteers with a .362 AVG. For a Tennessee team that has six double-digit home run hitters for the year in their lineup, the Volunteers also have four others that hold a .300+ AVG (Seth Stephenson, Jorel Ortega, Jordan Beck, Christian Moore), while the pitching staff holds a combined 2.47 ERA in conference play, anchored by the trio of Chase Burns, Drew Beam, and Chase Dollander.
Georgia on the other hand comes to Knoxville having dropped their last two weekend series’ against LSU and Vanderbilt, losing two-of-three games in both. Now owning a 32-16 overall record for the year (13-11 in SEC), the Bulldogs have since dropped out of the Top 25 because of these results, and now hit the road where they are 8-8 this season in road games.
Leading the Bulldogs in hitting is star outfielder Connor Tate who is batting .386 in conference play, as well as three others who each hold a .300+ batting average against SEC opponents in Parks Harbor, Fernando Gonzalez, and Joshua McAllister. Shortstop Cole Tate could play a key role in this series after recently returning last weekend against Vanderbilt, while pitchers such as Jack Gowen, Jaden Woods, and Will Pearson could do the same out of the bullpen relieving a Georgia rotation led by ace Jonathan Cannon that has struggled at times the last two weekends.
While Georgia certainly needs to get back on their winning ways with the SEC Tournament right around the corner, that will however be tough to do here. I’ll say that Tennessee takes at-least two-of-three against the Bulldogs, with a sweep possible as well.
Prediction: Tennessee 2-1