Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt baseball Predictions, Injuries, Odds & Picks - May 10
The top-ranked Tennessee Volunteers will clash with the Vanderbilt Commodores in a matchup of Tennessee schools on Friday night. Vanderbilt was recently dropped from the rankings by D1Baseball, but it's ranked No. 25 by other outlets. The game will be played in Nashville, Tennessee, at 7 p.m. ET.
The Volunteers are ranked second in the Southeastern Conference standings, behind No. 4 Kentucky. For their part, the Commodores are fifth in the SEC, sandwiched between South Carolina and Florida.
The game will be the first in a series of three games to be played over the weekend in the capital of the Volunteer State. This will be the first clash of the season between the schools.
The Volunteers will play against Belmont at home in Knoxville after this and will close out the regular season with a three-game series against South Carolina at home. Meanwhile, the Commodores will play a series against Kentucky over at Lenxington as the closing act of their regular season.
How to watch the Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt game?
The game will air on SECN+.
To watch SECN+, you need to download the ESPN app and subscribe to the service. You can watch SECN+ on Apple, Android and Amazon Fire devices, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Oculus Go, Cox Contour 2 and Contour Stream Player.
Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt injury report
Tennessee pitcher AJ Russell remains out of action, after exiting a game against Ole Miss on March 23 with an injury. On Saturday, Volunteers coach Tony Vitello gave an update on the situation on the local radio show "SportsTalk":
"He'll throw another bullpen this week and see how it goes, eventually we'll have him throw to some of our hitters. So he's making progress. We've slowed it at times where he's a little eager. And then, I won't say he's slowed it, but each time he reports he's a little bit sore, then we'll maybe push the itinerary back a day.
"So we're pushing forward and he's thrown off the mound a little bit."
Vanderbilt, on the other hand, is without pitcher Andrew Dutkanych IV, who has been confirmed out for the season since late March after undergoing Tommy John surgery.
What are the odds for Tennessee vs. Vanderbilt? Prediction
While the bookies haven't revealed official odds for this game, things aren't looking great for the Commodores. Vanderbilt is on a seven-game losing streak against the Volunteers. It last defeated them in 2021. To add insult to injury, the last time Vanderbilt defeated a top-ranked program was in 2016.
Nonetheless, there's an extra incentive for the Commodores. They need two more wins to receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament this year. With seven games left on the calendar, being swept again in this rivalry series could put Vanderbilt in some trouble.
However, it seems most likely that the Volunteers will win this one. They have won three of their last five games, and have a 17-7 conference record.