Vols baseball

AJ Causey set a tone for Tennessee baseball pitching staff

AJ Causey spent time working on his mindset on the mound after two rocky Friday starts for Tennessee. The work showed in a dazzling relief effort in the opener.

Causey struck out seven in 42⁄3 innings of scoreless relief.

He allowed five hits and walked two after back-to-back efforts in which he allowed 15 earned runs on 15 hits in four innings.

“I got lost in the idea of starting,” he said.

“It was probably good for me to come out of the bullpen to get back to that mindset of pitch after pitch.”

Causey did, and it helped set the tone for the Tennessee staff.

Drew Beam battled through 62⁄3 innings Saturday, allowing one unearned run on eight hits with five strikeouts. Zander Sechrist struck out five and allowed two runs on six hits in 52⁄3 innings Sunday. Chris Stamos started Friday. Snead was electric in relief Saturday. Kirby Connell pitched twice and became the all-time appearances record holder with 106. Aaron Combs hurled two key innings Sunday.

Billy Amick returns and rakes for Tennessee baseball

Billy Amick felt off when Tennessee played Ole Miss in late March. He had a stomachache the whole series and thought it was only that.

He ended up having an appendectomy the Monday following the series.

Amick missed the next eight games before returning against LSU, and he came back without missing a beat. He slugged a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw Friday, then had a double and homer Saturday.

“I don’t know if it’s relief, but it felt good,” Amick said of the Friday homer. “It was nice. It’s always nice to hit a homer.”

Amick started all three games against LSU in the 3-hole and at third base.