Tennessee

Tennessee baseball handles Tennessee Tech behind trio of home runs

Published

12 months ago

April 2, 2025

Press Room

Tennessee baseball handles Tennessee Tech behind trio of home runs

Tennessee baseball’s track record against in-state foe Tennessee Tech hasn’t been the best oddly enough.

This time, the Vols handled business with a 7-1 win.

This marks two-straight wins in the series for Tennessee (27-2) after a poor stretch in both 2022 and 2023, the Vols dropped their matches with the Golden Eagles (17-10). This has now been made up for with wins in both the 2024 and current 2025 campaigns.

TALK ABOUT IT IN THE ROCKY TOP FORUM

Overall, the series sits in Tennessee’s favor by the mark of 74-32-1. The Vols are 48-13 at home with the 2022 loss being on a neutral field in Kodak, Tennessee.

This time, it was a trio of home runs that got the offense going for the Vols. They used swings from Blake Grimmer, Dean Curley and Chris Newstrom to push across six of their seven runs. The only other run to cross came on a series of wild pitches.

Getting the ball to start the Vols was AJ Russell. This was his second appearance of the year following one frame of work earlier in the season which featured him striking out the side.

This time, Russell allowed a hit and struck out two batters to register his second full inning of pitching this year. He threw 12 pitches with 11 going down as strikes.

Following Russell, it turned into another midweek bullpen game. Entering in relief the rest of the way were Michael Sharman, Austin Breedlove, Dylan Loy, Austin Hunley, Brandon Arvidson, Andrew Behnke, Thomas Crabtree, Ryan Combs, Brayden Sharp and Bryson Thacker.

Behnke was the only Tennessee pitcher to allow a run in his frame of work. He went 0.2 innings while allowing three hits and the run to cross.

As a pitching unit, the Vols gave up just eight hits and one run. This came on 13 strikeouts.

WHAT HAPPENED

Russell got the ball to start but allowed his first hit of the season in the opening frame. He worked around this effectively, though, getting out of the inning with no real damage done.

In the bottom of the first, an error put Curley on base. This made way for Grimmer to tee off on a ball over the right-field wall for a two-run shot. This made it a 2-0 advantage after one inning of work.

After an inning of impressive defense, Tennessee’s bats got back to work. The Vols used an Ariel Antigua single and Curley home run to add another two on the board.

In the top of the third, Breedlove ran into some trouble. He loaded the bases with one out due to a double, single and hit-by-pitch. However, he got out of the jam with a pair of strikeouts.

Tennessee added another run after a Dalton Bargo single. Following getting on base, he went to second, third and home to score on three separate wild pitches. Antigua nearly pushed another across on a throwing error but the call on the field was overturned to end the inning.

In the fifth, Tennessee Tech got on the board. The Golden Eagles pushed across a run off Behnke but the damage was limited to just the single score. This made the game 5-1.

The Vols’ bats wouldn’t pick back up until the seventh. After three innings of silence on the scoreboard, Newstrom lifted a ball into the left field porches for a two-run shot. This gave Tennessee a 7-1 cushion with two innings to play.

This would be all the offense the Vols got as the bullpen continued to churn out outs resulting in a six-run win.

UP NEXT

Tennessee will now host Texas A&M in a rematch of last season’s College World Series finals. While the Vols picked up where they finished a year ago, the Aggies sit at 1-8 in SEC play heading into the weekend.

The series will take place Friday through Sunday with pitch times of 7 p.m. ET, 6 p.m. and 3 p.m. in that order. Friday will be played on ESPNU, Saturday on SECN+ and Sunday on ESPN2.

Then, the Vols match up with Alabama A&M on Tuesday at home before taking to the road to play Ole Miss in Oxford the following weekend.

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Tennessee

Has Tennessee ever made a Final Four? Vols hope third time’s a charm under Barnes

Published

10 hours ago

March 29, 2026

Press Room

Has Tennessee ever made a Final Four? Vols hope third time’s a charm under Barnes

For the third straight season, Rick Barnes has Tennessee basketball in the Elite Eight. After Sunday, March 29’s game against No. 1 Michigan, he’s hoping to have taken the Vols where they’ve never been before.

Despite becoming a March Madness fixture, the Tennessee Vols have never, in their history, made the Final Four. Despite a pedigree of modest success, including 11 regular season SEC titles and and five conference tournament championships (most recently in 2022), Tennessee has not been able to cross the threshold to college basketball’s most coveted weekend.

The Barnes era marks the closest Tennessee has come, with consistency, even though its best shot arguably came before Barnes’ time. The Vols’ first Elite Eight trip was under Bruce Pearl in 2010, while Barnes was still roaming the Longhorns bench in Texas.

Barnes has taken Tennessee to the 2024, 2025, and 2026 Elite Eights. There’s an argument to be made 2026 is his most impressive run yet, as a No. 6 seed in the Midwest bracket.

The Vols went as a No. 2 seed in both 2024 and 2025, ultimately losing to the No. 1 seeds of their respective brackets in the Elite Eight. While it could be easy to think it will be more of the same Sunday against No. 1 Michigan, Tennessee has now taken down No. 3 Virginia and No. 2 Iowa State to get to this point. So perhaps one more upset is in store.

Has Tennessee basketball ever made a Final Four?

Tennessee has not made a Final Four in its history, making it one of five SEC schools to not get to the national semifinal round.

The others are Missouri, Mississippi, Texas A&M, and Vanderbilt. Alabama basketball made its first Final Four in 2024.

Tennessee basketball Elite Eight record

The Vols are 0-4 in the Elite Eight, with losses in 2010, 2024, 2025, and 2026.

Here’s a look at their full history in the fourth full round of the tournament.

2010: No. 5 Michigan State 70, No. 6 Tennessee 69
2024: No. 1 Purdue 72, No. 2 Tennessee 66
2025: No. 1 Houston 69, No. 2 Tennessee 50
2026: TBD, vs. No. 1 Michigan

Rick Barnes Elite Eight record

Barnes is not just defined by his career at Tennessee. He does have a Final Four appearance, winning his first Elite Eight game with Texas in 2003. Since then, though, he is 0-4 in the Elite Eight, with two losses at both Texas and Tennessee.

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Tennessee football gets commitment from WR Kesean Bowman

Published

22 hours ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

Tennessee football gets commitment from WR Kesean Bowman

Tennessee football and coach Josh Heupel picked up a commitment from Brentwood Academy four-star wide receiver Kesean Bowman on March 28 while he was visiting the school.

Bowman narrowed his list to Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Ohio State, Alabama and Miami on March 2. All five schools were among his top 10 he acknowledged on Oct. 30. Texas, LSU, USC, Texas A&M and Oregon were among the schools left off his list.

The 6-foot, 174-pound Bowman is ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the state for the 2027 class. He is the No. 6 wide receiver nationally, according to 247Sports Composite. He has more than 35 other offers. He decommitted from Oregon last September, more than two months after committing to the Ducks.

Bowman was a Division II-AAA Mr. Football semifinalist, who caught 49 passes for 665 yards and 11 TDs, during BA’s 2025 state runner-up season. He also had a rushing TD and was named the DII-AAA West Region Offensive MVP. He was named to The Tennessean’s 2025 All Midstate Large Class football team and is a Middle Tennessee Sports Awards offensive football player of the year nominee.

Bowman helped BA finish 11-1 in 2025, losing to Baylor in the DII-AAA state championship game.

Tennessee and Heupel have also offered Brentwood Academy offensive tackle Rance Brown, a 6-6, 290-pound lineman who transferred from Southside (Alabama). The Vols are pursuing BA junior four-star linebacker Kenneth Simon II as well.

Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at tpalmateer@tennessean.com and on the X platform, @tpalmateer83.

He also contributes to The Tennessean’s high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg. Subscribe to The Bootleg here.

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What are the Titans’ top remaining needs ahead of 2026 NFL Draft?

Published

1 day ago

March 28, 2026

Press Room

What are the Titans’ top remaining needs ahead of 2026 NFL Draft?

The Tennessee Titans have made some improvements throughout the offseason and appear better positioned heading into the draft than they were in 2024, with added depth on both sides of the ball.

Yet, even with the added talent, they still have multiple needs they must continue to address to help both now and in the future, and another solid draft would go a long way in finding a sustainable path forward. Gilberto Manzano of Sports Illustrated looked at the roster and saw some of the same things as he broke down their remaining needs heading into the draft.

Tennessee Titans
Draft needs: RB, WR, edge, S
The running back duo of Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears hasn’t been a productive one. Cam Ward desperately needs a game-changer at one of the skill positions. Newcomer wideout Wan’Dale Robinson doesn’t exactly fit that bill, but he’ll make life easier for the second-year quarterback.
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With Robert Saleh now the head coach in Tennessee, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the Titans used the No. 4 pick on one of the top edge rushers.

There is no doubt that the Titans should add some playmakers in this draft class, and they shouldn’t bank on hitting a dynamic playmaker in the fourth round again. Tennessee could definitely use a premium pick on at least one or possibly two offensive weapons.

Tennessee also must invest in the interior of the offensive line to help Cam Ward and the offense. While it’s true that Pollard and Spears did not blow the doors off the running game, they were also hampered by subpar play along the offensive line for the past two seasons, after line guru Bill Callahan failed to transform the Titans’ line into a consistent unit. It wasn’t until after he and his son Brian Callahan left that the play-calling for the running game took off.

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