Where Tennessee Baseball Lands In USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll

College World Series
Fans celebrate Tennessee baseball’s College World Series Finals game two win over Texas A&M // Photo via UT Athletics

The college baseball season is just 10 days away and the final preseason rankings are here. The USA Today Coaches Poll released on Tuesday with Tennessee baseball coming in at No. 2. Tennessee earned 10 of 30 first place votes.

Tennessee is one of 11 SEC teams in the preseason poll, coming in behind No. 1 Texas A&M and ahead of No. 3 LSU, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 9 Georgia, No. 10 Florida, No. 13 Texas, No. 18 Vanderbilt, No. 19 Mississippi State, No. 24 Kentucky and No. 25 Oklahoma.

Tony Vitello’s eighth Tennessee team has six SEC series against preseason top 25 teams, hosting Florida in its SEC opening series as well as hosting rivals Vanderbilt and Kentucky. The season’s marquee series comes when the Vols host Texas A&M in a rematch of the College World Series final series. The Vols also have road trips to LSU and Arkansas in two of their final four series of the regular season.

Tennessee also has a pair of lone matchups against preseason top 25 teams in non conference play. The Vols will face both No. 17 Oklahoma State and No. 20 Arizona in Houston as part of the Astros Foundation College Classic.

The preseason coaches poll was the final of the five main preseason polls to come out. Expectations are once again high for Tennessee squad with the Vols coming in between No. 2 and No. 5.

More From RTI: Tennessee Baseball Scrimmage Stats And Notes From Feb. 2

The Vols are coming off their first ever National Championship and one of the best seasons in SEC history. Tennessee’s 2024 team won 60 games, including the SEC Regular-Season Championship and SEC Tournament Championship on the way to the National Championship.

Tennessee lost an abundance of key players from last season’s title team including Christian Moore, Blake Burke, Billy Amick, Dylan Dreiling and Kavares Tears at the plate. On the mound, Tennessee lost key arms including Drew Beam, Zander Sechrist, Kirby Connell, Aaron Combs and AJ Causey.

Still, expectations are high for the 2025 Vols. Tennessee returns a handful of key players including Hunter Ensley and Dean Curley at the plate as well as Nate Snead and Dylan Loy on the mound.

Combine the returning proven Vols with young players who have flashed potential and one of the nation’s top ranked recruiting and transfer classes and Tennessee has no shortage of talent.

Most notably, Tennessee landed Ole Miss stars Liam Doyle and Andrew Fischer as well as Louisville infielder Gavin Kilen in the portal. Talented freshmen Jay Abernathy, Tegan Kuhns and Levi Clark are looking to push for roles as well.

Tennessee opens up its 2025 season on Friday, Feb. 14 when they open up a three-game series with Hofstra at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Similar Articles

Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *