By Zac Ellis
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An SEC baseball series against Tennessee is a homecoming of sorts for Vanderbilt sophomore pitcher Patrick Raby. Raby hails from baseball powerhouse Farragut High in Knoxville, and he recalls venturing to UT’s Lindsey Nelson Stadium to take in Vols’ series against the Commodores during his high school days.
Now Raby is a Friday starter for the Dores, but he is plenty familiar with several of his UT counterparts. Tennessee boasts five players from the Knoxville area, including two – catcher Nico Mascia and pitcher Eric Freeman – from Raby’s alma mater at Farragut. That familiarity is why Raby looks forward to Vanderbilt’s three-game series against Tennessee, which begins Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Hawkins Field.
“I think it just adds a little bit of fun to it, especially for me,” Raby said. “I know a lot of people from Knoxville, obviously, so it’s definitely true from that standpoint.”
It’s also true that this in-state rivalry has been a tight one in recent years. Tennessee took two of three against Vanderbilt last season in Knoxville, while the Commodores snagged two of three in the programs’ last meeting in Nashville in 2015. The series is tied 5-5 in its last 10 games, and Vanderbilt holds a slim 161-160-3 lead in the all-time series.
PODCAST: Chandler Day previews Vandy’s matchup with Tennessee
Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin is no stranger to his program’s recent history with Tennessee.
“Very competitive,” Corbin said. “Not to minimize any team that you play, but you get into a situation where it’s an SEC series and someone that’s in your division. So yeah, there’s a lot of anticipation and so on. The fact that some of our kids know their kids, there’s some good relationships that are involved. It just makes for nice games.”
Vanderbilt (25-16, 9-9 SEC) welcomes the Vols (21-17, 5-13) to The Hawk fresh off a series win at Georgia last week. The Commodores clinched the series in Athens with a 10-5 win in the second game of a Saturday doubleheader. In that matchup, regular midweek starter Chandler Day allowed just three runs on six hits over 5.1 innings.
Due to finals week, Vanderbilt did not play a midweek game ahead of its series with Tennessee. Corbin said the Dores used their uncharacteristic five-day break for added prep for the Vols, who beat East Tennessee State, 8-1, on Wednesday. UT dropped two of three in its most recent SEC series against Texas A&M but managed to claim its first-ever win at Texas A&M with a 5-3 victory in 14 innings last Sunday. But earlier in the season, UT won two of three games over a top-10 Florida team in Gainesville.
Corbin singled out UT third baseman Jordan Rogers as “one of the best players in the league.” The senior ranks third in the SEC in batting average (.377) and sixth in hits (58), and he has reached base safely in every game in 2017. Corbin said Rogers is just one example of the danger Tennessee’s offense can present.
“I think they’re starting to play well,” Corbin said. “They’ve got some younger kids who are very athletic that are now midway through the SEC season, and they’re starting to get very comfortable. You can see it in their body language, you can see it in their swings, you can see it in their approach to the game.”
While Tennessee enters the weekend tied for last in the SEC East at 5-13, Vanderbilt sits just three games back from first place in a jumbled division. That’s why the season’s final stretch could be a defining one for the Dores, who still must face Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri in SEC play.
Plus, recent history suggests Vanderbilt can’t overlook its in-state rival. But that’s nothing new to the Dores in a conference like the SEC.
“I think that’s true for almost any team, no matter the record or ranking,” Raby said. “You don’t even have to look at it, but you know you’re going to get a good series from anyone that you play.”