The Tennessee Vols had a shot to do something special early in this 2026 season. Unfortunately, they saw just how far they have to climb if they want to compete with the true national title contenders this season.
UCLA took the Vols to the woodshed in a 14-5 splattering on Friday afternoon. The Bruins look every bit the part of the number one ranking they’ve been given by most outlets this season and should be the clear favorite out of the Big Ten.
But the rest of the week went well for the Vols, and
that was enough to keep them around where they were ranked last week.
Tennessee came in a No. 19 in the latest rankings for both D1 Baseball and Baseball America.
Tennessee managed to bounce back in a big way over the next two days against Power Four competition. The Vols got a solid five innings from Landon Mack (2 ER, 7 H, 5 K) and two relievers closed the door over the next four innings and made an early 4-0 lead hold up at 5-3. Blaine Brown and Henry Ford led Tennessee with two hits apiece.
On Sunday, Tennessee got another sharp starting performance against Virginia Tech in a 3-1 win. Evan Blanco went 5.1 and allowed one earned run with two hits and six strikeouts. The Vols were led at the plate again by Ford and Brown, who each had an RBI as the Vols managed just four hits for the game.
Up next is ETSU on Tuesday and Oakland on Wednesday before a weekend series in Knoxville with Wright State.
