Hunter Ensley: Playing at Tennessee was everything I dreamed of

After spending five seasons with the Tennessee Volunteers baseball program, Hunter Ensley has seen his time with the program come to an end. It ended at the hands of Arkansas in the Super Regional, failing to make it back to the College World Series.

Following the loss, Ensley spoke at the Tennessee press conference about his time with the program. He’d explain that his time in Knoxville was everything he wanted it to be.

“It’s been everything I dreamed of growing up,” Ensley said. “This is always the place that I wanted to come play at. Fortunate to spend five years here, and I feel like we accomplished a lot in five years. It’s pretty exciting seeing the way this program is going. There’s a lot of young, talented guys that are coming back. So, I expect them to be in a similar situation like this next year.”

Ensley is a Huntingdon, Tennessee, native who first made his way to the Tennessee program in 2021. That season, the outfielder would take a medical redshirt. Over the seasons since then, he’s become an increasingly important player on Tennessee’s rise to the top of the SEC. During that time, Tennessee would never fail to make it to at least the Super Regional round.

That run of success included the 2024 College World Series championship. That was the first national championship in program history. Ensley had two hits and two runs scored in the clinching game and had a home run in game one of the championship series.

In the end, Ensley had an incredible college career. He’d finish by playing in 205 games, 174 of which he started. He’d go on to hit .303 with a .399 OBP and a .495 slugging percentage for his career. That’s a 0.894 OPS. Ensley would also finish his career with 29 home runs, 141 RBIs, and 17 stolen bases.

On the defensive side of things, Ensley played a solid outfield. He had a career fielding percentage of .992 with just three career errors. He also had seven assists and 354 career putouts.

Ensley would also earn numerous honors throughout his time with Tennessee. He was named to the Academic Honor Roll four times, and then in 2025, he would make the All-SEC Defensive Team, the SEC All-Tournament Team, and was a Second-Team All-SEC selection.

Now, Tennessee is going to need to try and find a way to replace one of its best-known and most veteran players. He’ll, meanwhile, begin the next stage of his life, be it getting drafted and making a go of being a professional, or moving on from baseball.