Josh Elander provides injury details on pitcher Landon Mack for Tennessee baseball

Tennessee pitcher Landon Mack will not start Saturday’s regular season finale against Oklahoma in Oklahoma City as the sophomore was listed as ‘OUT’ on the pregame SEC Availability Report.

Josh Elander commented on the status of Mack in a pregame interview with John Wilkerson on the Vol Network Saturday afternoon.

“He continues to go through his progression, and he is working through some deals. But he will not be available today,” the coach said.

When asked if Mack could be available to pitch the first game of this week’s Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Ala., Elander said that decision hasn’t been made yet.

“At this point, I still think it’s the day-to-day deal. Don’t want to speculate at all,” Elander said. “There’s a bunch of people in his corner helping him out and making sure he is in a good spot and can make a good decision one way or the other. We will give him the time to lean on the professionals to make that decision when the time is appropriate.”

Mack missed his start against Texas on Sunday due the arm soreness, but is working toward a return, although Elander did not have any “major updates” on Mack on Tuesday.

Mack is 4-4 with a 4.67 ERA in 12 starts. He has struck out 77 in 61.2 innings with a team-high 25 walks.

“He has been moving around, which is a good sign,” Elander said on Tuesday. “He has been playing catch. Him and I just talked in the dugout pregame briefly after I got done throwing BP. It will be a day-to-day deal. No major updates. We are never going to put him a position unless he is 100% convicted and ready to go. It’ll be a day-to-day thing from here on out.”

Elander indicated Saturday that the Vols found out pregame Saturday that Mack would not be available against Texas. He didn’t have a timeline for Mack’s return at that point, but did say he is “excited to see him back out there.”

Mack, who was listed as ‘questionable’ on the Wednesday Availability Report ahead of the series, had one of his best starts of the season against Kentucky on May 3. He struck out six and allowed one run on six hits and two walks in six innings of a 10-9 Tennessee win.

The sophomore had a pair of rocky starts in his two prior outings against Ole Miss and Alabama, but made adjustments in his delivery to avoid tipping pitches before the Kentucky start. He also used a new glove to help hide the baseball better.

Tennessee started freshman Taylor Tracey against Texas on Sunday with Mack out. Tracey had a bumpy start and the bullpen game that followed didn’t go well for the Vols outside of brief spurts. The Vols are starting fellow freshman Chandler Day in the series finale against Oklahoma on Saturday.

The Vols took Game 1 of the weekend set over the Sooners on Thursday, holding on for the 9-7 victory. Tennessee took the series with a 9-4 win in Game 2.