The Vols have advanced to a NCAA Tournament Super Regional. Tennessee will host Notre Dame at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Super Regional play.
Notre Dame defeated Texas Tech in the Statesboro Regional final.
Evan Russell returned to Tennessee’s starting lineup against Georgia Tech.
He did not play against Alabama State in Tennessee’s opening game of the Knoxville Regional. Russell did not start against Campbell in Tennessee’s second game in the Knoxville Regional.
Russell’s appearance against Georgia Tech set the Tennessee program record for most games played (230).
Evan Russell is a graduate student-athlete at the University of Tennessee in 2022.
Ahead of the 2022 NCAA Tournament Knoxville Regional, he has appeared in 228 games with 203 starts from 2018-22 with the Vols.
Russell is the only player in Tennessee program history to hit three home runs in a single game twice. He accomplished the feat on March 27, 2021 versus LSU and April 17, 2021 versus Vanderbilt.
He came to the University of Tennessee from Scotts Hill High School in Reagan, Tennessee. Russell appeared in 42 games (35 starts) during his freshman season in 2018.
He earned a master’s degree in Agricultural Leadership, Education & Communication on May 20, 2022.
Below are photos of Russell during his career at Tennessee.
“We will give it some time to figure out what’s going on because I have to get with Dr. (Chris) Klenck, but obviously Evan Russell was not here,” Vitello said. “He was sick this morning. I got a message from him. I’m going to always defer to those folks. It opened up an opportunity for Charlie, and also our guys to kind of rally around one another because clearly that’s a big piece there.
“The one thing I’ll say about it, if you come to practice, I mean I’m looking at these names, I think Charlie has everyone on our roster beat as far as how he shows up and plays ball. It’s just kind of the same deal, it’s why he’s a fan favorite in the locker room. I don’t think it affects him much, but what our fans do, just in certain situations, and in particular being behind our guy that’s a freshman on the field, does things to my soul that I wish I could explain to you all, but I can’t.”
Evan Russell. Tennessee practices at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on June 2, 2022 ahead of the NCAA Tournament Knoxville Regional. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Tennessee Vice Chancellor and Director of Athletics Danny White issued a statement regarding Russell on Saturday.
“Thrilled to update that Evan Russell is feeling better and back with the team,” White announced. “Sad that over the last 24 hours this young man has had to endure speculation and criticism. In the future I hope that the media will prioritize the health of our student-athletes over unfounded rumors.”
Redshirt freshman Charlie Taylor replaced graduate senior Evan Russell for Tennessee against Alabama State. Taylor recorded one RBI in the contest.
Following the Vols’ win, Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello discussed Russell and Taylor.
“We will give it some time to figure out what’s going on because I have to get with Dr. (Chris) Klenck, but obviously Evan Russell was not here,” Vitello said. “He was sick this morning. I got a message from him. I’m going to always defer to those folks. It opened up an opportunity for Charlie and also our guys to kind of rally around one another because clearly that’s a big piece there.
“I think for me, the one thing I’ll say about it, if you come to practice, I mean I’m looking at these names, I think Charlie has everyone on our roster beat as far as how he shows up and plays ball. It’s just kind of the same deal, it’s why he’s a fan favorite in the locker room. I don’t think it affects him much, but what our fans do, just in certain situations, and in particular being behind our guy that’s a freshman on the field, does things to my soul that I wish I could explain to you all, but I can’t.”
Evan Russell and Tennessee practice at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on June 2, 2022 ahead of the NCAA Tournament Knoxville Regional. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols WireCharlie Taylor and Tennessee defeat Alabama State in the NCAA Tournament Knoxville Regional at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on June 3, 2022. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Vitello also discussed if Russell will play against Campbell on Saturday.
“I don’t know, I would say if he wasn’t able to be here today, then I wouldn’t think quick turnaround,” Vitello said. “I mean even handling that with our guys in the fall here, if you’re out one day, you have to come to me first before we’ll see if we’re going to push the envelope.
“Hopefully, you guys think we’re conservative with our guys as it relates to throwing or playing, I mean health first and then we’ll push the envelope second. You have a guy like Jared Dickey in my ear all game long, and all day long, ‘The beast has been in the cage too long.’ He wants to play. Well, you have to kind of manage situations like that.”
Alabama State, Campbell and Georgia Tech will also play in the Knoxville Regional. The Vols will play Alabama State on Friday (6 p.m. EDT, SEC Network), while Georgia Tech is slated to play Campbell (noon EDT, ESPN+).
The winner of the Knoxville Regional will play the winner of the Statesboro Regional in Super Regional play.
Georgia Southern, Notre Dame, Texas Tech and UNC Greensboro will compete in the Statesboro Regional.
75 University of Tennessee student-athletes are slated to graduate this weekend.
Commencement ceremonies will take place at Thompson-Boling Arena Friday-Sunday.
“This weekend signifies the most important element of the student-athlete experience,” Tennessee Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Danny White said in a UT press release. “We want our student-athletes to win championships and achieve excellence athletically, but all of that is supplemental to the No. 1 goal, which is earning that University of Tennessee degree. We’re all proud of these men and women for their extraordinary accomplishments and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for them.”
Seven Tennessee baseball players and VFLs are set to graduate this weekend. Below are Tennessee baseball players and VFLs who will graduate.
Tennessee becomes the first team in Southeastern Conference history to start league play 17-1. The only other team to start 16-1 was Tennessee in 1951.
Sunday’s contest concluded a three-game Southeastern Conference series between the Vols and Gators. The series sweep of the Gators in Gainesville was the first time since 2001.
Tennessee enters its weekend series with a program record 20-game winning streak. The Vols have not trailed in a game since March 13 in the first inning against Rhode Island.
Ahead of the Tennessee-Missouri matchup, graduate senior Evan Russell previewed the series. Russell’s preview can be watched below.
Recapping Tennessee’s win over Vanderbilt Saturday.
For the second time this season, Evan Russell hit three home runs in one game.
His power led Tennessee to an 8-4 victory over Vanderbilt Saturday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
Russell, the Volunteers’ senior left fielder from Lexington, Tennessee, left the yard three times and hit a grand slam against the No.2 Commodores. He went 3-for-3 and drove in six runs to help the No. 3 Vols force a rubber game in the three-game Southeastern Conference series Sunday in Knoxville.
The winner of that game not only claims the series, but will have sole possession of first place in the SEC East standings.
Tennessee (29-7, 10-4 SEC) also picked up a home run from catcher Connor Pavolony. Tennessee scored its other run when an RBI groundout by Jake Rucker plated Kyle Booker in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Vanderbilt (27-6, 10-4 SEC) scored all four of its runs via the long ball as CJ Rodriguez had a three-run homer in the sixth.
Russell also hit three home runs in a game against LSU on March 27.
