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Tennessee baseball falls in national polls after weekend in Athens

On3 imageby: Eric Cain05/08/23_Cainer
Zane Denton, Tennessee Volunteers baseball
Tennessee's Zane Denton is swarmed and congratulated by teammates during a game on March 26, 2023. (Eakin Howard / Getty Images)

The Tennessee baseball team remained alive and well in __ of the six national polls, highlighted by an 11th-place nod from Perfect Game, after producing a 2-2 record over the week with a series-loss to Georgia on the road.

Tennessee, who was tabbed at No. 6 in last week’s Perfect Game poll, finished just outside of the top-10 for May 8’s edition at No. 11. It’s the fifth-highest program from the Southeastern Conference, following LSU at No. 2, Arkansas at No. 3, South Carolina in fifth and Florida in sixth. Wake Forest moved up a spot to the No. 1 ranking while Clemson checks in at No. 10, right in front of the Vols.

D1 Baseball, which is the poll Volquest follows – as well as ESPN on the television broadcast – has Tennessee just inside the top-25 as it fell five spots from last week’s No. 18 ranking. Oregon and Southern Miss round out the top-25 poll for the publication right behind the Vols while Virginia (21st) and UTSA (22nd) come in just before.  

Tennessee dropped four positions in the USA Today Coaches Poll to No. 20 from No. 16. The Collegiate Baseball Newspaper had the Vols falling nine spots from No. 19 to No. 28 in its top-30 weekly poll. Tennessee is the 19th-best team this week according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association – down from No. 16 last week. The Vols dropped out of the Baseball America top-25 after being tabbed No. 21 a week ago.

The road issues continued for Tennessee over the weekend as the Vols dropped the final two games in Athens after running away from the Bulldogs for a 12-3 final in game one on Friday. Stater Drew Beam was pegged for eight runs during Sunday’s start as the Vols were without star reliever Chase Burns throughout the weekend.

Tennessee returns home to finish off the Lindsey Nelson Stadium portion of the schedule, hosting Austin Peay on Tuesday, Kentucky over the weekend and Belmont next Tuesday. The Vols enter the week of play sporting a 32-16 overall record with a 12-12 mark inside Southeastern Conference play.

Tennessee in the weekly polls (May 8)

Perfect Game – No. 11 (-5)

NCBWA – No. 19 (-3)

USA Today – No. 20 (-4)

D1 Baseball – No. 23 (-5)

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper – No. 28 (-9)   

Baseball America – NR (No. 21 last week)