logo
Tennessee baseball ranked top 10 for fifth consecutive season

Tennessee baseball ranked top 10 for fifth consecutive season

Yahoo21 hours ago

The 2025 college baseball season concluded Sunday. LSU defeated Coastal Carolina, 2-0, in the College World Series Finals at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.
Tennessee (46-19) was eliminated in the NCAA Tournament Fayetteville Super Regional at Arkansas.
Advertisement
The final USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll was released on Monday. The Vols finished the 2025 campaign ranked No. 10 with 410 points. LSU (1), Arkansas (3), Tennessee (10), Texas (12), Auburn (13), Vanderbilt (14), Georgia (15) and Ole Miss (18) finished the 2025 season ranked in the top 25.
2025 marks the fifth consecutive season the Vols have finished with a top 10 ranking in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll.
Below are final rankings each season for Tennessee in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll under eighth-year head coach Tony Vitello.
PHOTOS: Tony Vitello through the years
Tennessee baseball's final ranking in USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll each season under Tony Vitello
2025: No. 10 (46-19)
Advertisement
2024: No. 1 (60-13)
2023: No. 4 (44-22)
2022: No. 9 (57-9)
2021: No. 5 (50-18)
2020: No. 20 (15-2)*
2019: Not ranked, received 68 votes (40-21)
2018: Not ranked (29-27)
*2020 season canceled after 17 games due to coronavirus pandemic
Follow Vols Wire on Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Tennessee baseball's final ranking each season under Tony Vitello

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Are All Smiles at Nashville Bar During Tight End University
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Are All Smiles at Nashville Bar During Tight End University

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Are All Smiles at Nashville Bar During Tight End University

Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were spotted in Nashville on Monday, June 23. A Swift fan account took to X on Monday night and posted a photo of the pop star smiling with Kelce at a bar. The NFL tight end is currently in Music City for Tight End University, a three-day summit he founded four years ago with fellow athletes George Kittle and Greg Olsen. Their goal is to bring members of football's tight end community together for a training camp and raise money for various charities in the process. On Tuesday, June 24, Kelce and his cohorts will host the 'Tight Ends and Friends' concert at Nashville's Brooklyn Bowl. Singers scheduled to perform include Jordan Davis, Chase Rice and Sophia Scott, as well as 'surprise musical guests,' the venue's website teased. (No word on whether Swift might be among them.) Swift and Kelce, both 35, have been enjoying quality time together following an incredibly busy period in their respective careers. She wrapped up her blockbuster Eras Tour last year, while he helped take the Kansas City Chiefs all the way to the Super Bowl back in February, ultimately losing the trophy to the Philadelphia Eagles. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Look Happy and More in Love Than Ever on Romantic Date Night Since that stinging loss, Kelce has rented a $20 million mansion in Florida to be near his trainer as he prepares for the upcoming Chiefs season. But when he's not focused on football, his heart is with Swift. While the twosome are trying to keep a lower profile, they can't hide their affection for each other in recent date-night sightings. On Friday, June 20, the couple were photographed holding hands while leaving a restaurant in New York City. Dressing for the summer heat, Swift sported a pale blue tank top matched with a floaty pink skirt for the occasion, while the athlete donned all-white attire with a matching T-shirt and shorts. Earlier this month, Swift and Kelce attended the Stanley Cup Finals in Sunrise, Florida, where fans captured the duo sharing a kiss and packing on the PDA as they watched the Edmonton Oilers face off against the Florida Panthers. The couple also attended a wedding in Tennessee and were seen enjoying each other's company on several other date nights at restaurants in recent few weeks. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce Pack on the PDA at Stanley Cup Game With a Touching Kiss An insider exclusively told Us Weekly in June that the pair are staying out of the spotlight intentionally. 'They are making fewer public appearances together because [their relationship] brings too much unwanted attention,' the source told Us, 'but there isn't trouble in paradise.' Meanwhile, 'Taylor has been coming and going to Florida,' a second insider noted, 'and is still spending a lot of her time in NYC.' A third source added that Swift 'is trying to spend as much time with him as she can by going to Boca [Raton]," where Kelce is living temporarily. "They are doing stuff separately out of necessity because of his training, but when they find time to connect, it's intentional and meaningful.'

Stay or go: Will Zac Cowan return to LSU baseball in 2026?
Stay or go: Will Zac Cowan return to LSU baseball in 2026?

USA Today

timean hour ago

  • USA Today

Stay or go: Will Zac Cowan return to LSU baseball in 2026?

Zac Cowan settled in nicely to his relief role with LSU baseball after coming in from the transfer portal. The right-handed pitcher, who head coach Jay Johnson labeled as the best reliever in the nation, came in as a successful starter after two years at Wofford. Cowan led the Terriers to a conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance before leveling up himself. Cowan finished 2025 with a 2.94 ERA and 60 strikeouts through 52 innings. Cowan's last two appearances, both in the NCAA Tournament, were starts. Against Arkansas in the College World Series, Cowan surrendered just one run through 5.1 innings. With mixed use as a starter, bridge, and closer, Cowan proved his abilities consistently and is a big reason why the Tigers advanced to Omaha for the College World Series. Now a national champion, the junior faces a decision. Cowan can either return to Baton Rouge for his senior season or turn professional by entering the 2025 MLB Draft. The case for staying Cowan is not ranked on draft top-200 prospects list. While he'd likely get drafted at some point, Cowan isn't looking at life-altering bonus money. With rev sharing an NIL, a return to LSU could be in the same ballpark as his draft slot. Another year developing under pitching coach Nate Yeskie would give Cowan the opportunity to increase his draft stock to be a first round pick like so many LSU pitchers before him. Cowan could compete for a starting role and put more high-level competition on tape. He struggled down the stretch in the postseason and another year would correct the path. The case for leaving Between Wofford and LSU, Cowan has three years and over 200 innings of collegiate work. The innings are a mix between starter and reliever appearances, meaning he brings a versatile skillset that would be unique to any ball club. Cowan's solid year as a reliever in the SEC could be enough for MLB teams to take a chance on. He reached the mountain top of college baseball with a national championship and ended the season on a high note with his innings against the Razorbacks. We've seen veteran pitchers make quick climbs to the MLB in recent years and teams looking for immediate pitching help could make Cowan a strong offer.

Scooter Hobbs column: Another LSU invasion of Omaha ends with CWS title
Scooter Hobbs column: Another LSU invasion of Omaha ends with CWS title

American Press

time2 hours ago

  • American Press

Scooter Hobbs column: Another LSU invasion of Omaha ends with CWS title

OMAHA, Neb. — Maybe Charles Schwab Field really is Alex Box North. Omaha — Geauxmaha, they call in late June — has long been LSU's own personal summer resort. So the Tigers were making themselves right at home Sunday afternoon, not only with the familiar national championship dogpile, but — and this seemed like an added touch in their adopted city — a victory lap around the stadium rim, a rite more familiar to Baton Rouge for the send-offs than the coronations in Omaha. Maybe when it's your eighth championship party, you have to spice things up a little. So the Tigers were circling the stadium's outfield rim, donning their t-shirts and leaping high to slap skin with adoring fans, taking it all in from the hordes who fled Louisiana — and those rugged evacuees, sun-burned as they were, deserved some team love after enduring the Louisiana-style heat til the joyous end. It didn't seem to matter. All was well. Purple and gold has taken over this city before, but never in my mind with the numbers and saturation of this year. You wondered if anybody was left back home on the bayou. 'Calling Baton Rouge,' was blaring in the background. And this year the Omaha invasion upped the ante when they pulled up 30-foot long, 17-foot high float. Went by the name Mardi Gras Mike. He couldn't get in the game, but the float was all over Omaha, seemingly wandering around downtown 24 hours a day. Can't be Louisiana without a parade, right? The locals, LSU's famed Cornfield Alumni, acted like they'd never seen such a thing. You'd have thought the circus was rolling through town. Or Mardi Gras. Anyway, it fit in well with the beads fans have tossing around here for years and years. LSU's good ol' days were back. Shoot, Skip Bertman himself was here to explain it all to a TV reporter. 'The difference at LSU,' he said in that familiar cadence,' is the players think they're going to win because they think they're supposed to win … I think other teams fold a little towards the end of the game. And they can't do what we do in their mind.' It's hard to prove him wrong. He invented whatever the secret formula is and now Jay Johnson seems to have adapted it for a new era, a different ballpark in Charles Schwab Field. Coastal Carolina put up a pesky and hardy fight. Arkansas is just as good of a team as the Tigers yet collapsed at the end. But LSU was the last team celebrating … again. But by the looks of the postgame festivities, I suppose it never gets old. 'You never assume anything,' Johnson said. And you get the feeling eight is not enough. I wouldn't put it past Johnson. He seems to have figured out Charles Schwab Field, which so often confounded the Tigers in the early years when the event moved there in 2011. Gorilla Ball doesn't play well there. The small-ball Chanticleers actually scored all three of their runs on home runs, while the Tigers, who dig the long ball as much as anyone, scratched across their five runs. And Johnson never stops hunting for the right pieces to each year's puzzle — mostly he's partial to future Major League talent, but also the right fit. His CWS postgame press conference included several shameless recruiting plugs, which was probably overkill. He can pretty much get who he wants. Exhibit A was sitting next to him on the podium. Anthony Eyanson was the title game winning pitcher, a transfer from UC-San Diego. His was the arm Johnson knew he had to have, fretted over it, probably pestered him and was ready to throw a dogpile when he landed him. Eyanson had a different version. His story is that he couldn't believe his luck when Johnson first called, thought it was a dream, maybe a practical joke. 'I didn't believe it until I talked to him on the phone,' he said of the opportunity. 'Then he would text me every day, started sending me pictures of the pinstripe jerseys.' Johnson worried about nothing. Eyanson couldn't get to LSU fast enough (after pinching himself). There are other similar tales and Johnson probably has a bigger advantage in the NIL era with a school with an administration and a fan base that supports baseball. So don't be surprised if these Louisiana mass exoduses to Geauxmaha become even more regular. Scooter Hobbs covers LSU athletics for the Lake Charles American Press. You can contact him at

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store