Baseball America hands Tennessee a top five ranking ahead of 2025 season

With a little over two weeks remaining until Opening Day, Baseball America has unveiled their preseason rankings. The Tennessee Volunteers were ranked No. 3 heading into the new season by the publication – the highest preseason ranking thus far for the program.   

Tony Vitello’s club, who won its first ever national championship last season, comes in behind Texas A&M and LSU in the first two slots and just ahead of Arkansas and Virginia that round out the top-five. Florida State, Florida, Clemson, Oregon State and Duke finish off the top-10.

Baseball America boasts 10 teams from the Southeastern Conference in its preseason poll and all eight programs who finished the 2024 campaign in Omaha at the College World Series.

Tennessee already received preseason nods in the top-five from D1 Baseball (No. 4) and Perfect Game (No. 5).

The Vols (60-13) finished the 2024 season with the first national championship in program history and became the first team from the Southeastern Conference to eclipse the 60-win marker in a single season. Tennessee went an impressive 10-2 in the NCAA Baseball Tournament and snapped the ‘curse’ of No. 1 overall seeds not winning the title, a streak that dated back to Miami in 1999.  

Tennessee’s 60 wins last year were the most of any team since Florida State in 2002 and the most of any national champion since Wichita State in 1989. It was the second straight trip to the College World Series in Omaha for Tennessee, the third in four years and the first time the Vols played for a national title since their first trip there in 1951. 

Vitello has rewritten the Tennessee Baseball record books, leading the country the last four seasons in wins (211), win percentage (.773), NCAA Tournament wins (25) and home runs (566).

The Vols won everything they could in 2024 – winning the SEC’s regular-season championship, the SEC Tournament championship, Knoxville Regional and Knoxville Super Regional. The team lost back-to-back games on March 16 and 17, then never lost consecutive games again. They went 7-0 while facing elimination in the SEC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, including coming back from down 0-1 in the best-of-three College World Series championship series against Texas A&M. 

Tennessee opens the 2025 season at home against Hofstra on Friday, February 14.

Tennessee Vols in the 2025 Preseason Rankings

Baseball America – No. 3
D1 Baseball – No. 4
Perfect Game – No. 5

Tennessee Vols 2025 Preseason Accolades

SS Dean Curley: Second-Team All-American (Perfect Game) | No. 8 sophomore in country (Perfect Game)
RHP Nate Snead: Second-Team All-American (Perfect Game) | No. 38 junior in country (Perfect Game)
3B Andrew Fischer: No. 14 junior in country (Perfect Game)
RHP AJ Russell: No. 30 junior in country (Perfect Game)
INF Gavin Kilen: No. 25 junior in country (Perfect Game) | SEC’s Best Transfer (Baseball America)
LHP Liam Doyle: No. 55 junior in country (Perfect Game)
C Cannon Peebles: No. 92 junior in country (Perfect Game)
OF Hunter Ensley: No. 2 senior in country (Perfect Game)
UTL Alex Perry: No. 73 senior in country (Perfect Game)
UTL Jay Abernathy: No. 3 Best Freshman (Baseball America) | No. 6 Best Freshmen (Perfect Game)
UTL Levi Clark: No. 21 Best Freshman (Perfect Game)
RHP Tegan Kuhns: No. 46 Best Freshman (Perfect Game)
RHP Anson Seibert: No. 52 Best Freshman (Perfect Game)
MIF Manny Marin: No. 56 Best Freshman (Perfect Game)