Vols visit Cookeville as Tech Baseball plays host to UT on Wednesday night
Wednesday evening will mark the second game played under the lights in Bush Stadium this season, as the Golden Eagles will welcome in-state, SEC rival the Volunteers of Tennessee in the 6 p.m. nightcap.
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Wednesday evening will mark the second game played under the lights in Bush Stadium this season, as the Golden Eagles will welcome in-state, SEC rival the Volunteers of Tennessee in the 6 p.m. nightcap.
Tech is coming off of a rough start to Morehead State in this past weekend’s series; the Golden Eagles dropped two straight to the Eagles after Tristan Archer’s complete game win with 10 strikeouts in game one of the series. The 1-2 series leaves Tech at 6-6 in the Ohio Valley Conference and 17-21 overall.
The Vols meanwhile are also coming off of two losses, going 1-2 against Georgia in the weekend series to post a 22-17 overall record, 5-13 in the SEC headed into Wednesday’s game.
Casanova Donaldson currently maintains a .336 mark at the plate to lead the Golden Eagles with 50 hits in 149 at-bats in 38 games played. He’s followed by Evan Frazier with his .330 stand in 28 games, while veteran Chad Oberacker has brought in 37 runs for Tech with a .303 at the plate to fuel the scoring.
Tennessee is led by Khayyan Norfork in the batter’s box with a .367 average, having notched 54 hits in 147 at-bats this season and bringing in 32 RBI for the Vols. Zach Osborne follows close behind with a .360 with 17 RBI on the year.
Southpaw T.J. Thornton will take the hill first on Wednesday evening, looking to improve upon his 1-0 record in his second start of the year. Thornton has a 2.40 ERA on the season, having allowed four Earned runs on fourteen hits in 15 innings of work.
The starting pitcher for Tech will be freshman southpaw Jake McWhirter. Making his eighth start on the year, McWhirter will be looking for his first win, heading in with an 0-3 record having pitched 30 innings for Tech, striking out 27.
Fans who can’t make it out to Bush Stadium for the Wednesday’s night game can follow the LiveStats here.
