Outfielder Hunter Ensley is already a Tennessee legend for his postseason heroics in the College World Series last summer, but he’s entering the 2025 campaign with some steam as well.
Perfect Game named Ensley as the second-best senior in college baseball ahead of the 2025 season as the publication rounded out their lists of all classes this week. Utility Alex Perry also made an appearance on the list, checking in at No. 73 of 75 total.
Andrew Fischer (No. 14), Gavin Kilen (No. 25), AJ Russell (No. 30), Nate Snead (No. 38), Liam Doyle (No. 55) and Cannon Peebles (No. 92) were mentioned as top-100 juniors by the publication. Perfect Game also named rookie Jay Abernathy as the third-best incoming college freshman and Dean Curley as the 8-best sophomore.
Curleywas named a second-team preseason All-American by Perfect Game earlier this week along with right-handed flamethrower Nate Snead .
Perfect Game kicked off their preseason coverage by ranking Tennessee at No. 5 in their preseason rankings.
From ‘the slide’ that ended up being the winning run for Tennessee in a 6-5 thriller over Texas A&M in Game 3 of the College World Series Finals to ‘the catch’ – running into the wall at full steam earlier in the week at Omaha against North Carolina, Ensley had a postseason to remember. The starting centerfielder, who was hitting .238 in early May, finished the year with a .296 average over 216 at-bats with 12 home runs, 48 RBI and 45 runs scored.
After playing in just 14 games with no starts over his first two seasons in the program, Ensley has manned the center field grass each of the past two years – playing in 127 games with 110 starts.
Perry, who joined the Vols from junior college prior to the 2024 season, served as a utility though injuries kept him out of action for much of the year. During the fall, Perry was able to give the coaching staff a real, honest evaluation of himself at first base. There were several speed bumps and some lessons learned over the course of the practice window, but the utility player got better and finished strong. At the very least, he proved to the staff that he’s an option there. He’s also a favorite of Vitello’s and is a real contender for the first base job.
Tennessee opens the 2025 season at home against Hofstra on Friday, February 14.
Tennessee Vols in the 2025 Preseason Rankings
Perfect Game – No. 5
Tennessee Vols 2025 Preseason Accolades
SS Dean Curley: Second-Team All-American (Perfect Game) | No. 8 sophomore in country (Perfect Game)
RHP Nate Snead: Second-Team All-American (Perfect Game) | No. 38 junior in country (Perfect Game)
3B Andrew Fischer: No. 14 junior in country (Perfect Game)
RHP AJ Russell: No. 30 junior in country (Perfect Game)
INF Gavin Kilen: No. 25 junior in country (Perfect Game)
LHP Liam Doyle: No. 55 junior in country (Perfect Game)
C Cannon Peebles: No. 92 junior in country (Perfect Game)
OF Hunter Ensley: No. 2 senior in country (Perfect Game)
UTL Alex Perry: No. 73 senior in country (Perfect Game)
UTL Jay Abernathy: No. 3 Best Freshman (Baseball America) | No. 6 Best Freshmen (Perfect Game)
UTL Levi Clark: No. 21 Best Freshman (Perfect game)
RHP Tegan Kuhns: No. 46 Best Freshman (Perfect game)
RHP Anson Seibert: No. 52 Best Freshman (Perfect game)
MIF Manny Marin: No. 56 Best Freshman (Perfect game)
The post Hunter Ensley considered the No. 2 senior in college baseball by Perfect Game appeared first on On3 .
This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.
