The Tennessee Volunteers won’t be lacking for experience in the NCAA baseball tournament that begins next weekend.
They’ve pretty much endured every result imaginable.
Tennessee went 1-1 this week at the Southeastern Conference tournament in Hoover, Alabama, after a roller-coaster of a ride in the regular season that ended up in a 15-15 league ledger. The Vols are ranked No. 20 in this week’s Baseball America poll and have three series wins against teams — Alabama, Mississippi State and Texas — ranked ahead of them.
They also have three series losses against programs — Kentucky, LSU and Vanderbilt — that Baseball America does not project to make the 64-team NCAA field.
“We’ve been challenged all year,” Tennessee first-year coach Josh Elander said in a press conference following Wednesday night’s 8-4 loss to Arkansas. “It’s a young team that’s had some reps, and now we’re at the end of the year. One of my favorite parts about this time of year is that you’re just competing for more time together as a group.
“You’re only guaranteed a few more games, so there shouldn’t be any more motivation needed, and I think going through the challenges and having some scars and having some successes gives them some perspective going into the postseason.”
The NCAA tournament will be revealed at noon Monday on ESPN2.
Tennessee will be in the field for a seventh consecutive time, with the Vols expected to be seeded second in one of the 16 regionals. The Vols hosted a regional four times in the past five years, but the one exception in 2023 resulted in Tennessee being the second seed in the Clemson Regional and advancing all the way to the College World Series.
The Vols have been great offensively in recent weeks, which has yielded an 8-3 record down the stretch and an average of 8.73 runs scored during those 11 contests.
“We know what our hitters are able to do when we’re up to the plate,” redshirt sophomore second baseman Blake Grimmer said. “We’ve come a long way. I just think overall that we’re taking better at-bats.”
Said Elander: “Obviously the guys have really been swinging well.”
Top Tennessee pitcher Tegan Kuhns wasn’t used in the SEC tournament, which Elander described as a small victory, but the health of sophomore pitcher Landon Mack and senior right fielder Reese Chapman could be key to the quest for a sixth consecutive super regional appearance. Mack has been out most of this month with arm soreness, while Chapman was struck in the face by a ball during Monday’s practice in Hoover.
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Tennessee has a 38-20 overall record and is on the doorstep of another 40-win season. The Vols went 13 consecutive seasons without winning 40 games from 2006-18, with Tony Vitello’s second squad in 2019 going 40-21 and earning the program’s first NCAA tournament invite since 2005.
It’s been 40 wins ever since with the exception of the coronavirus-canceled spring of 2020 — the Vols were 15-2 when play halted — with the 2024 national championship team setting a new SEC standard with 60 victories.
“At this point of the year, we’ve been through the mud,” Elander said. “We’ve won in a lot of ways, and we’ve lost some different ways, too. We just want our guys to buy into there being nine innings. If you’re up five in the fourth inning, you can’t get giddy, and if you’re down by five, there is plenty of game left.
“It can swing back and forth both ways, but you’ve got to stay in it.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.