No. 1 Tennessee (54-7) defeated Alabama State, 10-0, Friday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
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.”
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.”
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