Where Tennessee Baseball Stands in Latest Rankings

Where Tennessee Vols Baseball Stands in Latest Rankings

After never being ranked atop any college baseball Top 25 poll prior to this season, Tennessee baseball (42-6, 20-4 SEC) had held the consensus No. 1 spot in all six major college baseball polls for the past six weeks. 

However, the six major polls did not unanimously agree that the BaseVols were the number one team this week, breaking the streak. Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and the NCBWA agreed that Tennessee's 2-2 week was enough to drop them below the Oregon State Beavers (39-8, 18-6 Pac-12). Although the Vols have a record two-and-a-half games better than the Pac-12 powerhouse, UT is coming off their worst weekend of the season, and first series loss of the year, to lead to their drop in the pair of polls. 

Below are the spots the BaseVols have received on Monday in the polls and what the sites said about them: 

D1Baseball.com: No. 1 (-)

"Despite losing its first weekend series of the year on the road at Kentucky, Tennessee held onto the No. 1 spot in the D1Baseball Top 25 rankings. At 42-6, the Volunteers still have college baseball’s best record and No. 1 RPI ranking, and their 20-4 mark in SEC play is still seven games better than the No. 2 team in their division, and four games better than SEC West leader Arkansas. No. 2 Oregon State swept Oregon to improve to 5-0 on the season against the rival Ducks, but Tennessee still has more high-end wins against regional-caliber opposition, headlined by road sweeps of Florida and Vanderbilt, a home sweep of Georgia Southern, a home series win against Auburn and a 2-1 showing against Big 12 opponents at the Shriners College Classic."

Baseball America: No. 2 (⬇️ 1)

"Oregon State climbs to No. 1 in the Baseball America Top 25 after sweeping in-state rival Oregon and extending its lead in the Pac-12 standings. The Beavers beat the Ducks four times last week and now hold a three-game lead in the Pac-12 standings. Oregon State is the fifth team to rank No. 1 this season and is atop the Baseball America Top 25 for the first time since its 2018 national championship. Tennessee, which previously spent six weeks at No. 1, dropped to No. 2 after losing a series at Kentucky."

Perfect Game USA: No. 1 (-)

"Tennessee suffered its first series loss of the year and though they dropped two games this week, they remain at No. 1 due to their present body of work. The gap between Tennessee and the rest of the country closed a bit, but the Volunteers are still No. 1 in terms of RPI, ELO, along with leading the country in ERA by about a full run and are top-five in scoring. Oregon State is the only other team we legitimately considered at No. 1, as the Beavers finished off a 4-0 week over in-state rival Oregon. Sitting at 38-9, the Beavers have a legitimate claim for No. 1 and lead the country in fielding and are in the top-10 in terms of ERA." -Vincent Cervino and Craig Cozart of PG USA

NCBWA: No. 2 (⬇️ 1)

"Oregon State (38-9 overall) has replaced Tennessee at the top after the Volunteers were No. 1 for five consecutive weeks. The Beavers of coach Mitch Canham have taken a three-game lead over perennial power Stanford in the Pac-12 Conference standings with an 18-6 mark and had achieved a No. 2 ranking for their previous 2022 best mark. OSU joins Texas, Vanderbilt and Tennessee as holders of the No. 1 position in 13 NCBWA surveys to date."

USA Today Coaches Poll: No. 1 (-)

Tennessee received 26 of 30 first place votes from the USA Today poll.

Collegiate Baseball Newspaper: No. 2 (⬇️ 1)

"Tennessee (42-6), ranked No. 1 for the previous six polls, slipped to second after losing two of three at Kentucky and three of its last six games. The Volunteers still lead the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division with a 20-4 record."

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While Tennessee got outplayed by the Wildcats in Lexington and lost their first of the season, the Vols have still earned the No. 1 spot in three polls. If the National College Baseball Writers of America poll ranks Tennessee No. 1, the Vols' number one rankings will outnumber that of Oregon State 4-2. 

A look at how the rest of the SEC teams in the polls who at least one ranking is below.

How the Rest of SEC fared: 

Arkansas: No. 4 (D1, Collegiate Baseball, USA Today, NCBWA), No. 5 (Baseball America), No. 6 (PG USA)

Texas A&M: No. 10 (D1, PG USA), No. 11 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 12 (Baseball America), No. 16 (USA Today, NCBWA)

LSU: No. 9 (PG USA), No. 14 (Baseball America), No. 15 (USA Today), No. 17 (D1), No. 19 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 18 (NCBWA)

Auburn: No. 20 (D1, USA Today), No. 21 (Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball), No. 22 (PG USA, NCBWA)

Vanderbilt: No. 16 (Collegiate Baseball), No. 21 (USA Today) No. 24 (D1, NCBWA), No. 25 (Baseball America), Unranked (PG USA)

Georgia: No. 22 (USA Today), No. 25 (Collegiate Baseball, NCBWA) Unranked in all others

The No. 1/2 Vols will take on the No. 22/25 Georgia Bulldogs in Lindsey Nelson Stadium this weekend for their final regular season home series of the season. 

Despite losing their series to Kentucky, the Vols clinched the SEC East with Georgia's series loss to Vanderbilt. Tennessee is three SEC wins away from winning the conference outright. 

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Photo Credit: Saul Young of Knox News