With college baseball season right around the corner, publications continue to release their preseason rankings. The National College Baseball Writers Association released its preseason top 30 on Thursday afternoon with Tennessee baseball coming in at No. 5.
Tennessee is one of nine SEC teams in NCBWA’s preseason rankings, coming in behind No. 2 LSU, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Arkansas and ahead of No. 7 Vanderbilt, No. 10 Texas A&M, No. 15 South Carolina, No. 23 Alabama and No. 25 Auburn. Kentucky, Mississippi State and Ole Miss also received votes.
The SEC’s nine teams in the top 30 were the most of any conference followed by the ACC (six) and Big 12 (five).
Tennessee faces six of the nine ranked SEC teams in three-game series this season. The Vols host LSU and South Carolina at Lindsey Nelson Stadium and travel on the road to face Florida, Vanderbilt, Alabama and Auburn.
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The Vols are coming off a strong 2023 season that saw them advance to the College World Series for the second time in three seasons and earn their first College World Series victory since 2001. Tony Vitello’s sixth Tennessee team struggled the first half of the season before turning it around and making an adversity filled run to Omaha.
Tennessee returns a number of key players from last seasons team including position starters Blake Burke, Christian Moore and Hunter Ensley and high-level starting pitcher Drew Beam. The Vols also brought in an impressive transfer portal haul including Clemson’s Billy Amick, North Carolina State’s Cannon Peebles and Wichita State’s Nate Snead.
NCBWA ranks Tennessee higher than any other publication has at this point. The Vols landed at No. 8 in Baseball America’s rankings, No. 9 in D1Baseball’s rankings and No. 11 in Perfect Game’s rankings. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the USA Today’s Coaches Poll have not released their preseason rankings yet.
Tennessee baseball opens its 2024 season on Feb. 16 at the Shriner’s Children Hospital Classic in Dallas, Texas.