Tennessee baseball is ranked No. 1 in at least one major college baseball poll.
The Vols moved up one spot to jump Texas A&M for the top spot in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll’s first update of the season. Tennessee swept Samford over the weekend to improve to 7-0 on the young season. UT won the series opener 5-1, secured a series win with a 7-3 victory on Saturday and broke out the brooms to sweep the Bulldogs with an 11-1 run-rule victory on Sunday.
Tennessee moved up one spot to No. 3 in D1Baseball’s latest top-25 rankings. UT is one of 11 SEC teams ranked in D1’s rankings this week. The Vols are joined by Texas A&M (No. 1), LSU (No. 2), Arkansas (No. 4), Georgia (No. 6), Florida (No. 8), Vanderbilt (No. 14), Texas (No. 15), Oklahoma (No. 16), Mississippi State (No. 18) and Ole Miss (No. 24).
“Texas A&M remains No. 1 in the D1Baseball Top 25 despite taking its first loss of the year in its series finale against Cal Poly,” D1 explained in its rankings. “The Aggies have yet to kick their offense into high gear, but they still won two of three to improve to 5-1 on the season, keeping them in the top spot.
“Virginia went 1-2 at the Karbach Round Rock Classic to tumble out of the No. 2 spot, allowing some other teams to slide up. One of Virginia’s losses came to then-No. 7 Oregon State, which also went 1-2 in Round Rock, but the head-to-head result helped the Beavers rank ahead of the Cavaliers this week. The 5-2 Beavs fall two spots in the rankings to No. 9, while the 3-3 ‘Hoos drop to No. 10.
“LSU, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina move up one spot apiece to round out the top five after A&M. Georgia, Florida State and Florida all went unbeaten on the week and moved up two spots apiece to No. 6, No. 7 and No. 8, respectively.”
The Vols moved up at least one spot in the other polls as well, although the National College Baseball Writers Association have not release updated in-season rankings.
Here’s where the Volunteers are ranked in the five major college baseball polls coming off their second sweep of the season.
- USA TODAY Coaches Poll: No. 1 (+2)
- National College Baseball Writers Association: No. 2 (-)
- Baseball America: No. 2 (+1)
- D1 Baseball: No. 3 (+1)
- Perfect Game: No. 4 (+1)
“The Volunteers rolled to a 4-0 week outscoring their opponents by a combined 52-9 margin, headlined by a 29-run onslaught against UNC Asheville,” Baseball America wrote about in its ranking of Tennessee. “Dalton Bargo, Levi Clark—who blasted a grand slam in back-to-back games—Dean Curley and Gavin Kilen all had multi-homer weeks to pace the offense, while Liam Doyle allowed one run and notched 14 strikeouts across 5.1 innings. Following a midweek tilt with North Alabama, Tennessee this weekend has its first real test at the Astros Foundation College Classic.”
Up next
Tennessee will be back in action on Tuesday afternoon when it hosts North Alabama in its second midweek game of the season. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. ET. The game will be streamed on SEC Network+.
The Volunteers will play their first games away from Lindsey Nelson Stadium when they travel to Houston, Texas next weekend to participate in the Astros Foundation College Classic. The Vols will play three games at Daikin Park, the home of the Houston Astros.
Tennessee will begin play on Friday afternoon when it squares off against Oklahoma State at 4:05 p.m. ET. UT will then face Rice on Saturday at 12:05 p.m. ET. It’ll conclude the weekend on Sunday against Arizona at 11:05 a.m.
