Josh Elander gives update on Reese Chapman following ‘freak accident’ at practice
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Tennessee baseball coach Josh Elander met with reporters after the Vols’ 11-6 win over South Carolina on Tuesday at the SEC Tournament.
One major topic was the absence of starting outfielder Reese Chapman, who was struck in the face by a line drive during practice on Monday.
“Yeah, we were just running out to practice here at the Met getting the guys ready. Outfield is running around, and it was just kind of a freak accident — a ball got hit and it clipped him in the right spot,” Elander said of the incident.
Chapman has been one of Tennessee‘s best hitters this season. He hit .316 with a .999 OPS while starting 55 games for the Volunteers. He’s among Tennessee’s leaders in extra-base hits with 10 homers, 19 doubles and 1 triple.
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Elander was non-committal about a potential timeline for Chapman’s return to the lineup, but said he’s currently getting treatment in Knoxville.
“He’s back in Knoxville tonight, and he’s going to get that thing worked on, as far as the actual timeline of what we’re looking at, I’m just glad Reese is in good spirits and we’ll see how it plays out over the next few days,” Elander said. “It was a pretty scary moment. But thank goodness he seems to be in a better spot than what we thought from the beginning.”
Regardless of the results in Hoover this week, Tennessee is expected to earn a bid in the NCAA Tournament when the bracket is announced this weekend.
The Vols will play their second-round game against Arkansas at 5:30 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
Spenser is a news editor for Saturday Down South and covers college football across all Saturday Football brands.
