FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tennessee mustered just 10 hits and six runs as its season came to a close in two super regional losses at Arkansas. Three of those runs came in the final two innings of the weekend with series well in hand.
That level of offensive production wasn’t nearly enough for Tennessee to keep up with an Arkansas team that boasts perhaps the sports’ best offense.
“That’s one of the best pitching steps I’ve seen, for sure, especially for five years,” Tennessee centerfielder Hunter Ensley said. “And, obviously, if you’re not scoring some runs against them, they can score some runs as well. They got a really deep lineup one through nine.”
Tennessee’s offense had rough patches in the back half of SEC play, scoring three or less runs in six of nine SEC games in a stretch from late April into early May. But the Vols had settled on a lineup and seemingly turned a corner in recent weeks.
Starting with its final regular season series against Arkansas, the Vols averaged 7.5 runs per game and failed to score five runs just twice in 10 games. But the Vols failed to score five runs in either game in Arkansas.
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“I think if it had a common theme from what you’re referring to, or are just, in my eyes, sitting in the dugout sometimes, and today, it’s an emotional group,” Vitello said. “And when you take a punch in the gut. It can derail you a little bit. There’s times where they did not let allow that to happen. … I think dealing with the emotion of being down by a good margin. And being down to your last game if you don’t win, was a factor.”
Some of the signs of offensive struggle were there entering the weekend. Hunter Ensley, Dalton Bargo and Reese Chapman all struggled in the regional with Ensley and Bargo entering the postseason on a bit of a slide. The trio combined to hit seven-for-65 (.108) with a .231 on-base percentage in six NCAA Tournament games.
That lack of production in the three, four and six spots in the lineup forced the top of the lineup to be stellar. Gavin Kilen, Andrew Fischer and Dean Curley were that last weekend in Knoxville. But when they were more ordinary in Fayetteville, Tennessee didn’t have what it took to overcome the slumping outfield.
Bargo and Chapman were veterans but first-year starters who both had really nice stretches during the season. But with a pair of freshmen in the bottom of the lineup, it was clear that those two as well as Cannon Peebles would largely dictate Tennessee’s ceiling.
Tennessee making it back to the super regional for the fifth straight season was a major reason why the Vols have nothing to hang their hat about in 2025. But the offensive woes that plagued Tennessee when they begun their mid-SEC play slide proved to difficult to overcome in Fayetteville.
