IBTIT: Tennessee Vols vs Georgia Bulldogs Baseball Series Preview (March 28, 29, 30)

It's Baseball Time in Tennessee: You'll be forgiven if you've overlooked this with the basketball team prepping for the Sweet 16, but Tony Vitello and the Vols (22-4, 3-3 SEC) host Georgia (21-4, 3-3 SEC) this Easter weekend on Rocky Top.

After taking two of three to win last weekend's series against Ole Miss, UT run-ruled Tennessee Tech 11-1 on Tuesday. UGA's midweek game against Mercer was rained out, but the Dawgs completed an impressive sweep of Alabama last weekend. 

Tennessee leads the all-time series over Georgia 127-121, including a 71-50 record in Knoxville. Tony Vitello has won three of the five series he's skippered against UGA, but the Dawgs did take two of three games against UT last year. Neither teams has earned a series sweep in this series since Vitello took over in Knoxville. 

Georgia features one of the most potent offenses in America. Just when you think Tennessee has been crushing homers this season (and they have, with 71), you look up at Georgia's nation-leading 74 and know this series should have some pop. UGA's Charlie Condon is one of the nation's best hitters. In fact, I'm going to quote directly from the UGA official press notes for this series: 

Formed in 1989, C+C Music Factory had hit singles like “Gonna Make You Sweat,” “Here We Go and “Things That Make You Go Hmmm..” Now located in Athens and formed in 2023, there’s “C+C Hitting Factory of Charlie Condon and Corey Collins that have pitchers sweating, fans barking and leading a team that produces mammoth home runs that make everybody go hmmm...and wow!

That's got to be the cheesiest thing I've ever seen printed in an official university release (and it's pretty poorly written to boot). Obviously this is a series I'd want the Vols to win anyway, but you can't lose to that, boys. A series win is now imperative. 

Good news for the Vols is there is a much steeper drop-off in quality of pitchers once you get into the Georgia bullpen compared to the Tennessee relievers. UGA is bottom-third in the league in most pitching categories. You'd expect a lot of runs to be scored this weekend, but the Tennessee staff seems better prepared to at least limit the damage done by Georgia's bats. Likely not a sweep, but the Vols should win the series.