Tennessee baseball began postseason play last week at the SEC Tournament without its most tenured player. But the Vols will get outfielder Reese Chapman back as they head to Chapel Hill for the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament.
“Reese will be full go,” Tennessee head coach Josh Elander said. “So, we’re definitely very excited about that. He’s really grinding through. I think a huge credit to Dr. (Chris) Klenck and Woody (Jeff Wood) and the people down at UAB for how they handled that situation.”
Chapman suffered a face injury during the Vols’ Monday practice in Hoover when a line drive struck him in the face. Tennessee quickly rushed him to UAB hospital that night before he returned to Knoxville on Tuesday.
But Chapman returned to Knoxville last Tuesday and got work done on the injury which will allow him to return to the field for one final postseason.
The senior right fielder has an abundance of postseason experience. He was an off-and-on starter on the 2024 College World Series team and hit a home run during the Vols’ win over North Carolina on Father’s Day in Omaha.
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However, Chapman was in a major slump during last postseason when the outfielder was an everyday starter for the Vols. Chapman is looking to avenge his poor postseason from a season ago with a big performance this weekend in North Carolina.
Chapman exited the regular season red-hot at the plate before suffering the face injury. He hit six-for-13 with three extra-base hits and four RBIs in Tennessee’s series victory over Oklahoma.
After a solid junior season as a full-time starter, Chapman has perhaps been Tennessee’s best hitter in his senior season. Over the course of the regular season, Chapman slashed .316/.422/.577 with 10 home runs, 19 doubles, one triple and 44 RBIs.
Chapman was also very productive in SEC play, slashing .306/.391/.603 with seven home runs, 13 doubles, one triple and 26 RBIs.
“I’m excited to see Reese rocking and rolling,” Elander said. “We’ll see if he rolls with the Batman mask or not out there. That’s the one thing left to see. But I’m just pretty damn excited to see him back out there again.”
Tennessee opens up play at the NCAA Tournament at noon ET on Friday when they face three-seed East Carolina at Boshamer Stadium. ESPNU is broadcasting the game.
