What Tony Vitello said on injured Gavin Kilen on Tuesday

Tennessee skipper Tony Vitello gave another injury update on starting second baseman Gavin Kilen Tuesday night following the Vols’ midweek win over Queens. The game was the fourth-straight Kilen missed due to the injury.

“Gavin is better making progress, for sure,” the coach said after Tuesday’s game. “He’s been able to swing a little bit. We’ll probably go slower than he wants on that, but, you know, we’ll see. There’s a good chance he could at least do something this weekend.”

The infielder was ruled out of each game last weekended in the series-win at Alabama after initially being listed as questionable on Wednesday. The junior took some contact late in Tuesday’s midweek loss to East Tennessee State and was seen limping after the game a week ago.

Vitello confirmed during the in-game broadcast Thursday night on ESPNU (vs. Alabama) that Kilen is dealing with a hamstring injury and that he was considered day-to-day. He gave another update on Saturday following the series-win on the road.

“I think it’s slowly getting better, but it’s probably at least an eight, nine, 10-day thing,” the caoch said postgame on Sunday. “So, as I mentioned, we’ll first look at the ability to maybe pinch hit and then maybe just hit. Maybe defend after that. And then base running will be last. He’ll probably be asked to chill a little bit there. So, daily progress, but probably not playing on Tuesday.”

Kilen led Tennessee in average (.431), hits (31), home runs (10, RBI (25), runs (32) and slugging percentage (.986) at the time of his injury. Starting third baseman, freshman Manny Marin, shifted to the keystone this weekend while Dalton Bargo got the start in the hot corner in game one at Alabama. Dean Curley slid down to play third base in the final two games. Freshman Chris Newstrom started at second base on Tuesday.

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