Tennessee baseball is facing LSU in the first game of the College World Series at 7 p.m. ET next Saturday, June 17.
The Vols and Tigers faced off in a three-game series in Baton Rouge in March. LSU took two out of three over Tennessee, earning wins in game one and two before the Vols salvaged the series with a Saturday afternoon win.
Facing LSU in the first game is a tough task. The Tigers boast perhaps the nation’s best offense and definitively the nation’s top pitcher in Paul Skenes. Skenes enters the College World Series with a 12-2 record, 1.77 ERA and 0.78 WHIP. LSU’s weakness is its pitching depth, which Tennessee won’t be able to exploit in the CWS opener.
Against Tennessee in the regular season, Skenes allowed just five hits and one run in seven innings pitched while earning the win.
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LSU is back in the College World Series for the first time since 2017 and the first time in the Jay Johnson era. The Tigers have run the table in the postseason to this point, sweeping through the Baton Rouge Regional before defending Alex Box Stadium by sweeping Kentucky in the super regionals.
Tennessee is back in the College World Series for the first time since 2021 and the second time in the Tony Vitello era. The Vols overcame plenty of adversity to return to Omaha. In the Clemson Regional, Tennessee used a ninth inning comeback to knock off the host Tigers in 14 innings.
At the Hattiesburg Super Regional, Tennessee dropped game one to Southern Miss before winning games two and three to avenge last season’s super regional loss to Notre Dame. The Vols also fought weather delays all weekend.
No. 1 seed Wake Forest and No. 8 Stanford/Texas round out Tennessee’s side of the College World Series while No. 2 Florida, No. 7 Virginia, TCU and Oral Roberts make up the other side of the field.
