The cold, hard facts show Tennessee Vols were woefully short performance-wise from one group during NCAA baseball tournament
There was plenty of blame to go around for why the Tennessee Volunteers came up short in their quest to return to the College World Series for the fourth time in the last five years. The Vols' didn't get enough at the plate during either game in Fayetteville from their big stars. They couldn't get […]
There was plenty of blame to go around for why the Tennessee Volunteers came up short in their quest to return to the College World Series for the fourth time in the last five years.
The Vols' didn't get enough at the plate during either game in Fayetteville from their big stars. They couldn't get a big hit when they needed to with the bases loaded, grounding into double plays on both Saturday and Sunday to kill rallies. Liam Doyle again wasn't Liam Doyle in Omaha, and the bullpen couldn't stop the bleeding. Even in Knoxville against Wake Forest, the pitching against the Demon Deacons outside of Doyle's 2+ inning save had its lumps.
However, an entire region of the playing field came up short when the Vols were at the plate, and that helped greatly contribute to the offensive struggles for the program when they needed to get a big hit. The Vols' starting outfield, per Rocky Top Insider's Ryan Schumpert, hit a combined .108 at the dish with a measly .231 on base percentage in the tournament.
Right fielder Reese Chapman led off the Vols' tournament with a solo home run in the second inning for a 1-0 lead over Miami (OH). He would go 1-18 the rest of the postseason for the Big Orange. Center fielder Hunter Ensley opened up 2-4 against the Redhawks. He would go 2-19 the rest of the way. Left fielder Dalton Bargo got in on the act against Miami (OH), going 1-4 with an RBI single. He'd finish 0-19 the rest of the postseason.
The Vols got a good bit of production at the plate with clutch hits during the 2024 postseason run from Dylan Dreiling (the 2024 College World Series Most Outstanding Player), Kavares Tears, and Ensley. That was the opposite of the case from the Vols' group in 2025.
Chapman and Bargo are juniors and Ensley played his last game with UT on Sunday after a terrific career at UT. As such, two of the three can return next year. We will see how Vitello structures his outfield in 2026 once decisions are made across the roster about the Major League Baseball draft and transfer portal – both incoming and outgoing – in the coming weeks.
Regardless, Tennessee will need production closer to 2024 than what they got this year in crunch time from their outfielders if they're going to make it back to Omaha in 2026.
