Tennessee baseball announces schedule change to weekend slate

The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team has announced some changes to their upcoming schedule. With Major League Baseball still in the midst of an ongoing lockout, the likely main source of excitement on the diamond will come from the collegiate level. And this season the Volunteers are not only strong candidates to capture another SEC crown but being contention for their first-ever College World Series crown.

Tennessee announced the games scheduled for this Saturday versus Georgia Southern and next Saturday versus Iona will be moved up to 1:00 p.m. ET. Both games are the second game in a three-game series against both schools, and both were scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. ET.

The Volunteers did not give a specific reason for the schedule change, but it’s not likely to cause much of a stir. The third game in each series is scheduled for the following Sunday, and the first pitch for them is at 1:00 p.m. ET.

Tennessee is one of eight SEC programs ranked in the top-25 to start the season, at No. 19. To give an idea of how stacked the SEC is in baseball this upcoming season, the Volunteers are the lowest-ranked of the eight teams. Also, six of the remaining seven teams ranked in the top-10. Included in that list is the always dangerous LSU at No. 8, Vanderbilt at No. 3, and the defending College World Series champs, Mississippi State at No. 4.

2022 SEC Baseball preseason coaches poll

With SEC baseball season just over a week away, the Southeastern Conference on Thursday released its annual SEC Coaches Poll, which includes the predicted order of finish for all 14 programs, as well as first and second team preseason All-SEC honorees.

Six different schools received first-place votes to win the SEC Championship: Ole Miss, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and LSU. Ole Miss received the most first-place votes to win the SEC title, with four, followed by Arkansas with three, Florida, Mississippi State and Vanderbilt with two, and LSU with one.

Arkansas was predicted to win the SEC West, while Vanderbilt was picked to win the SEC East. Here’s a look at the full 2022 SEC baseball preseason coaches poll.

Parenthesis indicates number of first-place votes.

Eastern Division

1. Vanderbilt (9) – 87

2. Florida (3) – 77

3. Georgia (2) – 68

4. Tennessee – 63

5. South Carolina – 43

6. Kentucky – 34

7. Missouri – 20

For the complete list, check out On3’s Simon Gibbs story