Tennessee baseball is facing Vanderbilt this weekend in its penultimate SEC series of the 2025 season and the final home series of the regular season.
There’s no shortage of orange at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on any given game day but Tennessee is making it a requirement for Saturday’s matchup. Tennessee is doing an orange out at Lindsey Nelson Stadium for game two of the weekend series against its instate rival.
Tennessee has done an orange out at both Neyland Stadium and Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center in recent seasons including for football wins over Alabama in 2022 and 2024 and basketball wins over the Crimson Tide in 2023 and 2025. But this weekend will mark the first time that Tennessee baseball will do an orange out at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.
The Vols are in desperate need of a series victory this weekend against Vanderbilt. Tennessee has dropped its last three series and four of its last five series. With the postseason approaching, the Vols need to collect wins to host a regional and to build some momentum.
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Tony Vitello’s eighth Tennessee team has particularly struggled at home in conference play. The Vols have dropped three of four home SEC series to this point. During Vitello’s tenure, Tennessee has never lost three home SEC series and combined to lose just one home SEC series the three previous seasons.
“We can’t rely on the fans to play well or be focused,” Vitello said following the series loss versus Auburn. “But I think in close situations, which SEC ball more times than not brings up, they put us over the edge in the past and they can do that in the future.”
The good news for Tennessee is that they’ve had Vanderbilt’s number in recent seasons. The Vols have won 10 of their last 12 matchups in the series and turned around their 2023 season by sweeping the Commodores in Knoxville.
First pitch for the weekend series is at 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. While the orange out Saturday game begins at 5 p.m. ET. All three games this weekend are nationally televised. Game one is on SEC Network while games two and three are on ESPN2.
