Number One Ranked Vols Baseball Team Playing Like Nation’s Top Team

Tennessee has been so dominant through the first six weeks of the season that coach Tony Vitello said it probably was good the Volunteers had a one-run game in the finale of their road sweep of previously top-ranked Mississippi.

“No team in the country has any interest in peaking early in the season,” Vitello said, “and the way that happens is you go through some adversity.”

Redmond Walsh struck out the side with the tying and winning runs on base in the ninth inning Sunday to secure the Vols’ 4-3 win.

Otherwise, Tennessee has mostly gone unchallenged while winning 23 of its first 24 and starting 6-0 in Southeastern Conference play. The Vols have won 15 straight since a 7-2 loss to then-No. 1 Texas. Of their 23 wins, 15 have been decided by seven or more runs.

The Vols, the new No. 1 team in three major polls Monday, have shown no weaknesses. They lead the nation in batting average (.338), home runs (64) and slugging (.683) and are second in scoring (11.1 runs per game). They’re first in ERA (1.89) and eighth in fielding percentage (.977).

Troy Lipscomb leads the SEC with 10 homers and 44 RBIs, Chase Burns leads the conference with an 0.80 ERA and Drew Beam is third at 1.12, and Chase Dollander has struck out a league-high 54.

Tennessee has won seven straight SEC road series since 2019 and is coming off its first sweep of a No. 1-ranked team. The Vols have five sweeps this season, tying their 2021 total.

The Vols take center stage this week when they travel to Nashville for a three-game series against Vanderbilt (19-4, 4-2).

IN THE POLLS

D1Baseball.com, Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball newspaper rank Tennessee No. 1 this week.

D1Baseball has Arkansas (18-4) and Oregon State (17-5) as its Nos. 2 and 3 teams. Baseball America has Oregon State second and Virginia (22-2) third. Collegiate Baseball has Virginia and Vanderbilt behind the Vols.