IBTIT: Tennessee Vols at Auburn Tigers Baseball Preview (April 5 to April 7)

It's Baseball Time in Tennessee: After getting run-ruled in game one of last weekend's series against Georgia, Tennessee (24-5, 5-4 SEC) rallied to win the last two games (16-11, 7-0) and take the series from the Dawgs. Meanwhile Auburn (17-11, 1-8 SEC) was swept on the road by Texas A&M, although the games were decided by a total of six runs, and game three went to 12 innings. It's been a rough start on the Plains as Auburn has a lone win in SEC play, but impressively that win came against #1-ranked Arkansas. 

The Tigers won their midweek game against UAB 10-4 after trailing 4-3 through 7 innings. Tennessee did not play a midweek game. 

Auburn leads the all-time series 97-41, including a dominant 54-18 lead in Auburn. Tennessee hasn't won a series on the Plains since 2005 and were swept in their last trip to Auburn in 2019. The Vols did win last year's series with the Tigers in Knoxville. 

• Auburn has not announced pitchers for Saturday or Sunday, and UT has not announced Sunday's starter, so those are just guesses. 

• Billy Amick will likely not play for the Vols again this weekend. 

• Blake Burke enters the weekend one home run short of Luc Lipcius' program record of 40.

• Tennessee's two grand slams in Saturday's win over Georgia ties the season record of seven grand slams set in 1998.

• Auburn's Ike Irish and Bobby Pierce were both All-SEC preseason selections.

• Cooper Wiess has stolen a NCAA-best 24 bases for the Tigers this season. 

This is the kind of series that can be very deceptive. Auburn is just 1-8 in SEC play, and they've been swept twice--this has to be easy work for the Vols this weekend right? But other than a poor showing at Vandy, Auburn's losses have all been close. The A&M series was decided by a total of six runs and against #1 Arkansas the games were even tighter. On aggregate the Tigers tied Arkansas 13-13 and took the final game of the series outright. 

The RPI predictor actually calls for Auburn to win this series. Don't think Tennessee is going down to the Plains for a play date. This needs to be a business trip for the Vols. It's a series Tennessee can win, but a sweep is unlikely, and even just stealing a game might be the best outcome for Tennessee this weekend.