by Tristan Thornhill
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – No. 3 Tennessee won their final mid-week matchup against North Alabama 7-5 before they head down to Houston to participate in the Astros Foundation College Classic.
Tennessee improved to 8-0 on the season, winning another non-conference game in nine innings.
However, the story tonight lies with Tennessee Junior pitcher AJ Russell, who made his first appearance for the Vols in 259 days.
Russell was dealing with elbow discomfort for the majority of the 2024 season, and a week before the team kicked off the Super Regional series, he underwent Tommy John surgery, effectively ending his season.
Of course, the team went on to win the national championship, but unfortunately for Russell, he never threw a pitch in Omaha.
Nevertheless, it was a surprise to many, including Russell when the team announced him as the starter today.
“I was thinking about it all day. I got the text sitting in class today and I was thinking to myself the rest of the day, I couldn’t focus or anything like that. I was really excited and obviously fired up to get up there.”
Many Tennessee fans have been waiting for Russell to return but he didn’t let it get to him and tried to “limit expectations” for himself.
“I just kind of go out there and have fun and let it loose. I kind of took over and stopped thinking about it all and just let it rip. I was hoping for like a 94, 95 here and there. It was coming out a lot better than I expected so it was good.”
Head Coach Tony Vitello referred to his determination to get back as “psycho.”
“His work and his character will lead him into, you know, forcing our hand maybe a little quicker than we want, but we’re also going to be pretty dang patient. The next time out isn’t going to be, you know, much more than he just did.”
Vitello was extremely pleased with his control. His adrenaline was “certainly there, but it wasn’t out of control.”
But to Vitello, that wasn’t even the highlight of his start. With these kinds of outings comes a lot of emotion, and it was on full display after the first inning when Russell bear-hugged Tennessee’s Associate Director of Sports Medicine, Jeff Wood.
Russell reflected on the hug saying, “We’ve been through a lot me and Woody. “Some days he wants to kill me. Some days I’m really mad at him. But I wouldn’t be in this position without Woody.”
Russell finished his evening with no hits, walks, or earned runs allowed, and three strikeouts in his only inning of work, a delightful sight to the home fans and the Big Orange.
9 other pitchers got into the game in relief for the Vols. However, this wasn’t particularly by design and Vitello wasn’t too happy with how he managed the pen in this one.
“Ultimately, the players that are out there got to play and do their job, but we need to put them in a position to succeed, and I don’t think that my part of that responsibility, was executed very well tonight at all.”
As for the offense, Tennessee immediately hopped all over Lion’s pitcher Reese Young in the first inning.
Dean Curley got the hit parade started with a single through the left side, followed by a four-pitch walk to Gavin Kilen.
After Hunter Ensley grounded out into a double play, Andrew Fischer wore a fastball on the upper right side of his arm, putting runners on the corners for the Vols.
Tennessee earned their first run of the evening on a Cannon Peebles single over North Alabama third baseman Bryant Loving’s leaping try.
Immediately after, Reese Chapman singled to left scoring Fischer stretching the Vols lead to 2-0.
Following a bases-loaded walk to Stone Lawless, Jay Abernathy joined in on the hit parade with a 2 RBI single to give Tennessee a 5-0 lead after one.
Chapman would come through once more in the bottom of the second on a single that scored Kilen, who would then go deep in the very next inning on a liner that snuck into the first row of the porches in left field for his eighth of the campaign.
Kilen joked about the distance of his home run and the fact that he “couldn’t stop and watch it” like he did this past weekend against Samford.
“I couldn’t tell if it was going out at first, so I just kept rounding first and then you know, I saw the umpire signal. You don’t get many [that you can stare at] and I want to play. If I only get to first, “I’m probably getting benched and I like playing so I’m going to run.”
North Alabama scored three more in the final three innings to make it interesting, but to no avail, as the Vols wrapped this one up with a bow and prepared for the weekend tournament trip.
Alberto Osuna
Alberto Osuna’s hearing for preliminary injunction is scheduled this week for Wednesday, February 26 at 2 P.M.
Osuna claims that the NCAA bylaws prohibit him from playing a fourth year of Division I ball because he played baseball at Walters State, a two-year junior college.
Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia won a previous injunction in the fall after a federal judge ruled that his time at a junior college should not count against his eligibility.
Osuna believes he is in the same scenario; however, this has now boiled over into the season, interfering with Osuna’s playing time.
With his trial looming and the team’s early success, this has sidelined Osuna in the early non-conference position battles that Tennessee has had over the first couple of weeks.
Vitello said that Osuna is still “in high spirits,” going into tomorrow’s trial. He also described him as a “teddy bear with some fight to him” and hopes “karma is on his side.”
What’s Next?
The Big Orange will hit the road for the first time this season as they travel to Space City for the Astros Foundation College Classic for the weekend tournament.
The Vols will face No. 16/NR Oklahoma State University on day one, Rice University on day two, and the No. 24/NR University of Arizona on day three.
The Volunteers have previously competed in this tournament when it was originally called the Shriners Hospital College Classic in 2022.
As for what to expect lineup-wise, Vitello said “We got a puzzle to solve… We don’t have a definitive lineup for Houston. I think we’ll focus on Friday, and we’ll do the same old thing we’ve been doing.”
Vitello said Marcus Phillips will get the nod on Saturday, but the rest is going to be “one inning at a time” from Friday to Sunday.
As for the next game at Lindsey Nelson, the Vols will play host to Radford on Tuesday, March 4 with a later start than usual at 6 P.M. EST.