{"id":36607,"date":"2022-06-04T17:07:16","date_gmt":"2022-06-04T17:07:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/tennessee-baseball-refutes-espn-announcers-evan-russell-ped-claim\/"},"modified":"2022-06-04T17:07:16","modified_gmt":"2022-06-04T17:07:16","slug":"tennessee-baseball-refutes-espn-announcers-evan-russell-ped-claim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/tennessee-baseball-refutes-espn-announcers-evan-russell-ped-claim\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee baseball refutes ESPN announcer&#8217;s Evan Russell PED claim"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el\" aria-label=\"Video - Tony Vitello on Ben Joyce's first start for Tennessee baseball\">\n<div class=\"gnt_em_vp_w\" data-g-r=\"vp_tp\" data-c-vt=\"teal\" data-t-pl=\"teal-playlist-hero\"><button class=\"gnt_em_vp_a gnt_em_vp__tp_a\" data-g-r=\"vp_ap vp_tg\" 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data-c-vpattrs=\"{&quot;muted&quot;:true,&quot;bContent&quot;:false,&quot;an&quot;:&quot;tn-knoxville-C1262&quot;,&quot;pn&quot;:&quot;Knoxville News Sentinel&quot;,&quot;vidNum&quot;:1,&quot;svp&quot;:true}\" data-c-vpdata=\"{&quot;adsEnabled&quot;:true,&quot;awsPath&quot;:&quot;sports\/college&quot;,&quot;byline&quot;:&quot;Mike Wilson&quot;,&quot;canonicalURL&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;contentSourceCode&quot;:&quot;PKNS&quot;,&quot;createDate&quot;:&quot;2022-05-14T21:19:13Z&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;Mike Wilson, Knoxville News Sentinel&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:99000,&quot;headline&quot;:&quot;Tony Vitello on Ben Joyce's first start for Tennessee baseball&quot;,&quot;hlsURL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/hlsmedia.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/video-renditions\/60e3c224-2df6-47ab-a47d-e04e3e1bdb32\/c72989aa-ca42-466b-93f5-24a08f1cf4d8\/1080p_30fps,720p_30fps,480p_30fps,master.m3u8?subtitles=9779667002&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;9779667002&quot;,&quot;image&quot;:{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/14\/PKNS\/1a3861c1-0367-4609-9b15-a2271b9cc777-TennesseeGeorgia0514_0505.jpg&quot;,&quot;opto&quot;:true},&quot;initialPublishDate&quot;:&quot;2022-05-14T21:19:13Z&quot;,&quot;keywords&quot;:&quot;Tennessee Volunteers&quot;,&quot;mp4URL&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/downloadmedia.gannett-cdn.com\/authoring\/video-renditions\/60e3c224-2df6-47ab-a47d-e04e3e1bdb32\/c72989aa-ca42-466b-93f5-24a08f1cf4d8\/1080p_30fps.mp4&quot;,&quot;origin&quot;:&quot;Knoxville News Sentinel&quot;,&quot;pageURL&quot;:{&quot;long&quot;:&quot;https:\/\/www.knoxnews.com\/videos\/sports\/college\/university-of-tennessee\/other-sports\/2022\/05\/14\/tony-vitello-ben-joyce-first-start-tennessee-baseball\/9779667002\/&quot;},&quot;promoBrief&quot;:&quot;Ben Joyce threw four innings in his first start for Tennessee baseball against Georgia&quot;,&quot;propertyName&quot;:&quot;TennGroup&quot;,&quot;publishDate&quot;:&quot;2022-05-14T21:19:13Z&quot;,&quot;series&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;ssts&quot;:{&quot;section&quot;:&quot;sports&quot;,&quot;subsection&quot;:&quot;college&quot;,&quot;topic&quot;:&quot;university-of-tennessee&quot;,&quot;subtopic&quot;:&quot;other-sports&quot;},&quot;tags&quot;:[{&quot;id&quot;:&quot;c2526fc8-0bcd-4e11-ba0e-efa2814bb73b&quot;,&quot;name&quot;:&quot;Tennessee Volunteers&quot;}],&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Tony Vitello on Ben Joyce's first start for Tennessee baseball&quot;,&quot;url&quot;:&quot;\/videos\/sports\/college\/university-of-tennessee\/other-sports\/2022\/05\/14\/tony-vitello-ben-joyce-first-start-tennessee-baseball\/9779667002\/&quot;}\" aria-label=\"Play video\"> <span class=\"gnt_em_vp_sbtp\"\/><svg class=\"gnt_em_vp_svg\"><use xlink:href=\"#gnt_svg_video_play\"\/><\/svg><\/button><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Tennessee baseball refuted an unsubstantiated claim from an ESPN announcer Friday night that Evan Russell failed a drug test due to performance enhancing drugs and is suspended for the remainder of the season. <\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Evan Russell&#8217;s absence last night had nothing to do with any violation of team, NCAA, or SEC rules,&#8221; a UT spokesperson said in a statement Saturday. <\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Russell missed Tennessee&#8217;s 10-0 win against Alabama State on Friday.  UT coach Tony Vitello said Russell woke up sick.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">ESPN announcer Troy Eklund offered his own version of the events during Oklahoma State&#8217;s 10-5 win against Missouri State.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;It was pretty crazy, failed a drug test so Evan Russell is suspended for the rest of the season,&#8221; said Eklund, a former Arkansas outfielder. &#8220;So Tennessee is going to have the whole rest of the team tested tomorrow, or the NCAA is.  So it&#8217;s going to be interesting to see if that&#8217;s just a one-player thing or throughout that is going through that whole entire program.  Performance enhancing drugs is what it was said. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p><img class=\"gnt_em_gl_i\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-src=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/06\/04\/PKNS\/bbad1791-74bb-40e0-afc2-60b7fc63c8db-KNS-UT_regional_BP_32.jpg?crop=3214,1808,x0,y0&amp;width=660&amp;height=372&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp\" data-gl-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/06\/04\/PKNS\/bbad1791-74bb-40e0-afc2-60b7fc63c8db-KNS-UT_regional_BP_32.jpg?crop=3214,1808,x0,y0&amp;width=1320&amp;height=744&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp 2x\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" width=\"660\" height=\"372\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Announcers later added Vitello&#8217;s postgame comments regarding Russell being sick, but continued to refer to &#8220;reports and speculation out on what the actual is.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;We have been in contact with ESPN and they are aware of the situation regarding last night&#8217;s comments made on their broadcast,&#8221; the UT statement said.  &#8220;ESPN is handling the situation and we are expecting a public apology from them later today.&#8221; <\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Jason Russell, Russell&#8217;s dad, also refuted the claim.  He indicated Russell had a meeting scheduled with doctors Saturday morning after a &#8220;health issue &#8230; that kept him from playing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;He hasn&#8217;t failed any type of test or anything,&#8221; Jason Russell wrote on Twitter.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">Tennessee announced Russell would not be available against the Hornets and that Vitello would address his status postgame about 90 minutes before first pitch.<\/p>\n<aside aria-label=\"advertisement\" class=\"gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">A source told Knox News on Saturday that Russell is available for Saturday night&#8217;s game against Campbell in the winners bracket.  Russell had a meeting with UT head team physician Chris Klenck on Saturday morning.  He was cleared to resume activity following the meeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">UT started redshirt freshman Charlie Taylor at catcher.  Taylor went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts.  He had an RBI on a safety squeeze in the sixth.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"gnt_em gnt_em_anc\" id=\"gnt_atomsnc\" data-g-r=\"lazy\" data-gl-method=\"loadAnc\" aria-label=\"Newsletter signup form\"\/>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\">&#8220;Thanks for everyone&#8217;s concern today,&#8221; Jason Russell wrote on Facebook.  &#8220;Life is more than baseball. But to let everyone know Evan is good. Thanks for the prayers !!!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"gnt_ar_b_p\"><em>Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics.  Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ByMikeWilson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-t-l=\":b|e|inline click|${u}\" class=\"gnt_ar_b_a\">ByMikeWilson<\/a>.  If you enjoy Mike&#8217;s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it. <\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tennessee baseball refuted an unsubstantiated claim from an ESPN announcer Friday night that Evan Russell failed a drug test due to performance enhancing drugs and is suspended for the remainder of the season. &#8220;Evan Russell&#8217;s absence last night had nothing to do with any violation of team, NCAA, or SEC rules,&#8221; a UT spokesperson said &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/tennessee-baseball-refutes-espn-announcers-evan-russell-ped-claim\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Tennessee baseball refutes ESPN announcer&#8217;s Evan Russell PED claim<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.gannett-cdn.com\/presto\/2022\/05\/14\/PKNS\/1a3861c1-0367-4609-9b15-a2271b9cc777-TennesseeGeorgia0514_0505.jpg?width=660&height=371&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36607"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36607\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}