Tennessee baseball is coming off its first national championship in program history last season. The BaseVols won 60 games on their way to winning the College World Series against SEC rival Texas A&M. Despite defeating the Aggies, Tennessee fell behind Texas A&M in the preseason rankings.
D1Baseball has released its preseason top 25 rankings. With the college baseball season one month away, Tennessee is behind A&M and two other premier baseball programs.
Texas A&M returned to the top of the poll as the No. 1 team in the country, followed by Virginia at No. 2 and LSU at No. 3 in the updated rankings.
Tennessee comes in at No. 4 in the preseason rankings ahead of Tony Vitello's eighth season as the Vols' head coach. That places Tennessee as the No. 3 team in the SEC coming into the new year after finishing the 2024 season as the No. 1 team in the country.
The drop in the rankings is due to Tennessee losing several key players from its championship team. Christian Moore, Blake Burke, Billy Amick, Dylan Dreiling, and Kavares Tears were all drafted and are playing professional baseball. Tennessee also lost Drew Beam, Zander Sechrist, Kirby Connell, Aaron Combs, and AJ Causey on the mound.
Tennessee lost several key players, but Vitello retooled the roster and brought in some elite players to make another championship run. Ole Miss transfers Liam Doyle, and Andrew Fischer join Louisville infielder Gavin Klien from the transfer portal.
Vitello has combined Tennessee's young talent with some of the top transfer talent from the portal to create another dynamic and dangerous roster. Hunter Ensley and Dean Curley return as powerful bats, and Nate Snead and Dylan Loy return as intimidating mound presences.
Tennessee's season starts with a weekend series against Hofstra at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. It is one of two tune-up series before Tennessee returns to the Astros Foundation College Classic in Houston, Texas, where they will play Oklahoma State, Rice, and Arizona.