On Friday, Feb. 14, the Tennessee Volunteers Baseball squad will open the 2025 season at home with a weekend series hosting Hofstra at Lindsey Nelson Stadium and for the first time ever, the Vols will open a season as defending National Champs. The " BaseVols" of 2024 captured the hearts of Tennessee fans everywhere by climbing to the top of the polls and staying there through the College World Series. The pre-season polls came out this week and the Vols are picked to finish second in the 2025 SEC race, right behind Texas A&M....the team they beat for the national crown last June.
Tennessee's historic run to the title marked the first time since 1999 the overall top seed actually won the championship.
The University of Miami took home the top honors that season. The biggest question for 2025 is do the Volunteers have enough talent to win it again in 2025? The answer is yes.
The Vols and pre-season pick Texas A&M each had six players chosen to the SEC all conference squad. The Tennessee players were shortstop Dean Curley, pitcher Nate Snead and pitcher Liam Doyle on the first team, while three more were selected to the second team including outfielder Hunter Ensley, infielder Andrew Fischer and infielder Gavin Kilen. As he did a year ago, Coach Tony Vitello took advantage of the Transfer Portal as four of those six transferred from other schools.
Tennessee's recent success can be attributed directly to Coach V. Millions of dollars of improvements to Lindsey Nelson Stadium have been made in the last couple of seasons and the venue will soon become one of the very best in the nation. Big Orange Baseball is bigger than it's ever been and I would say, there is no more popular figure on campus than Tony Vitello.
His style and enthusiasm is top notch and he gets it when it comes to promoting your program.
As good as the Vols are, it's going to be hard to repeat as national champs. I would say college baseball is the toughest sport to repeat as a national champion. In fact, no team has won back to back titles since 2011 when South Carolina won two in a row. The excitement of another season is just ahead and a week from Friday we'll be knee-deep in another season....one that promises to be as fabulous as ever.