Tennessee assistant coach Ross Kivett leads Tennessee baseball head coach Tony Vitello back to the dugout after speaking with the umpire during a NCAA baseball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Vanderbilt Commodores at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on May 11, 2025. Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tennessee Loses Six Straight SEC Series - What Happened to the Vols?

Originally posted on Tennessee Volunteers on SI
By Brooks Austin | Last updated May 18, 2025 10:09 AM ET

The Tennessee Volunteers lost six straight SEC Series to close the season. What happened to the formerly No. 1-ranked team and defending champions?

The Tennessee Volunteers entered the 2025 College Baseball Season as the defending national champions and the No. 4-ranked team in the sport. Now, as the Vols prepare to make a deep run in the SEC baseball tournament, they’ve lost six straight SEC series.

This is a Volunteer program that won 12 straight SEC series dating back to last season prior to this skid. So, what’s going on with the Vols?

Bats Not As Hot

Tennessee had one of the best offenses in college baseball history a year ago. They broke a college baseball record for the amount of grand slams hit in one season on their way to smashing for a national title.

However, in 2025, they just don’t have the firepower at the plate they had a year ago. They rank 31st in batting average (.308). They still rank 3rd in home runs, but are tied for 17th in total runs. The vols are lacking timely hitting at the moment. Additionally, entering the season, there were expectations that draft-eligible sophomore Dean Curley would be the catalyst to this offense alongside Alberto Osuna. Osuna obviously is still battling the NCAA for eligibility.

Bad Luck With Rain and Schedule

It’s going to sound like an excuse, but the Vols had an entire Friday night scrapped one inning into LHP, Liam Doyle’s start against Auburn, they had a double header then get squeezed in on an already weary bullpen. Everyone plays a tough schedule in the SEC, but Tennessee closed the season with No. 5 Arkansas on the road, No. 10 Vanderbilt at home, No. 6 Auburn at home, and No. 3 LSU on the road. It wasn’t exactly a walk in the park to close the season for the Vols.

Not As Talented?

We don’t cast aspersions as reporters. So, we will let coach Tony Vitello speak here, but perhaps this Tennessee team just isn’t as talented as the team that won a title a year ago, Vitello seems to think they lacked something. These were his comments following their first of six straight series losses against Texas A&M.

"You guys aren’t playing. You guys don’t know the rosters as well, nor do the fans. So, you got to write your own narrative. And then the other thing is, we got talent, but we damn sure don’t have, again, we know the rosters, we don’t have the best roster in the country. That’s not even close. But what we’ve had this year is a good group of guys -- defensively, pitching-wise, hitting, [they] all complement each other a little bit. And we’ve had a little bit of grit to us and we’ve had some other intangibles like team chemistry that have helped elevate our play a little bit. But we can’t show up and rely on what’s on paper."