Josh Elander updates status of pitcher Landon Mack, Tennessee pitching plans vs. Texas

Josh Elander on Saturday night opted not to name a starting pitcher for Tennessee baseball’s game on Sunday against Texas. Landon Mack earlier on Saturday was scratched from the start due to general arm soreness.

“That’s a great question,” Elander said after Tennessee clinched the series with a 14-9 win over the Longhorns at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. “(Tennessee pitching coach Josh Reynolds) and I will sit down and talk about it after this.

“We had talked about a couple different options, but just with how much respect I have for (Texas) coach (Jim) Schlossnagle and his program, we were leaving (Cam Appenzeller) in that game to finish it.”

Senior Evan Blanco started and got the win on Saturday, throwing 111 pitches over seven innings, giving up five runs on seven hits with eight strikeouts and three walks. Appenzeller pitched the final two innings Saturday, giving up four runs on three hits with three strikeouts and two walks.

“We’ll have to mix-and-match a little bit,” Elander said of Sunday’s pitching plans. “We just got the Mack news pregame today, so we’ll get with the rest of the crew and figure out what we got.”

Tennessee beat Texas 5-1 on Friday night

Tennessee started the series with a 5-1 win Friday night after Tegan Kuhns struck out 15 and walked one in the seven shutout innings. Mack was ruled out for Sunday’s start on Saturday afternoon.

“Dealing with some general soreness,” Elander said. “We’ll make sure he gets the highest level of care as always. But you know, that’s a guy that’s going to pitch in the major leagues for a long time. Has really, really good stuff. We’ll wait to get all the all the details as it plays out, but he will not throw for us tomorrow.”

Elander didn’t have a timeline for Mack’s return but added he’s “excited to see him back out there.”

“Don’t want to make any guesses at this point,” he said. “We’ll see what doc and the rest of the crew have to say.”

Mack has been up and down over the last month, picking up wins on the road against Mississippi State and Kentucky, but also dropping games at home against Alabama and Ole Miss.

He had been Tennessee’s Friday starter for most of the SEC schedule. That changed last weekend when the Vols opted to make a shift and moved him to the Sunday starter at Kentucky. He delivered with six innings of work, striking out six to get his fourth win of the season.

Tennessee vs. No. 4 Texas, Sunday, Noon ET, ESPN2

Tennessee will look to finish the sweep of Texas on Sunday (Noon Eastern Time, ESPN2), then closes the regular season with a home game against Belmont on Tuesday, then a three-game series at Oklahoma beginning Thursday.

Blanco on Saturday survived a three-run first inning from Texas and limited damage during a two-run fifth before ultimately going seven innings. Doing so could be big for the Vols on Sunday, when they look to answer the pitching questions.

“It was massive,” Elander said. “I mean, that’s the thing. I’m sitting there, I had some guys kind of moving around (in the bullpen) in the fifth, like we talked about, just in case, ‘Hey, let’s see.’

“… (Blanco) wanted to keep pitching, of course, but I had to tell him, ‘Hey, man, we got a short week next week. You’ve done your job and you need to trust your teammates.’ But two incredible starting pitching performances back to back when they were desperately needed. Two great jobs back to back.”