Tennessee reserve infielder not with Vols for 2025 campaign
Senior utility player Alex Perry will not be with the program this spring for the upcoming campaign, a Tennessee spokesman confirmed to Volquest Monday evening.
The move is due to a personal matter.
Perry was competing for the first base job in fall that was left behind by Blake Burke who was drafted by the Milwaukee Brewers with the 34th overall selection in the 2024 MLB Draft. Prior to Tennessee, the utility player spent two seasons at Pearl River Community College.
Injuries derailed his 2024 season, his first with Tennessee. Perry was in competition for the starting shortstop job last year but was limited to just seven games (one start) where he hit .286 with two knocks over seven at-bats. He drove in three runs and scored two runs himself.
In 2023 while at Pearl River CC, Perry was a member of the NJCA DII Baseball Championship team while hitting .357 through injuries in 57 games played. He registered a .385 batting average the year before in 2023 at the junior college – blasting a combined 26 home runs with 124 RBI in two years with the program.
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With Perry out of the picture moving forward, Dalton Bargo is the favorite to win the first base job. The rising junior who spent his first collegiate season with Missouri is a utility player capable of playing the corner infield and outfield spots – as well as catcher if needed. Freshman Levi Clark and redshirt freshman Stone Lawless are also options at first base. Sophomore Hunter High and freshman Chris Newstrom saw action at first base in fall as well.
Tennessee enters the 2025 season ranked No. 4 by D1 Baseball and No. 5 by Perfect Game.
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.
