When you have two legitimate Top 20 teams testing each other, it’s never inevitable.
Tennessee
Tennessee Baseball: RTI Staff Knoxville Super Regional Predictions | Rocky Top Insider
Tennessee baseball is two wins away from punching its ticket to the College World Series as they host Evansville in the Knoxville Super Regional this weekend.
The Vols are back in the super regionals for the fourth straight season after sweeping through the Knoxville Regional by a combined score of 33-9 last weekend. Evansville is the Cinderella story of the NCAA Tournament to date, upsetting East Carolina twice to win the Greenville Regional last weekend on its way to the super regionals.
Here’s a look at how the RTI Staff sees the Knoxville Super Regional shaking out this weekend.
More From RTI: Tennessee Pitcher Likely Shut Down For Remainder Of Season
Jack Foster
I’m not going to make this any bigger than it needs to be. Yes, Evansville is a good baseball team that didn’t just get lucky in the Greenville Regional. They earned it, and they beat a good ECU team twice.
The Purple Aces will come in to Knoxville playing with house money and nothing to lose. That can be dangerous. Throw in the fact they have a more than capable offense and a really solid ace? Tennessee can’t sleepwalk this weekend.
But, in reality, the Vols are just vastly more talented. Barring a complete collapse where the offense can find zero rhythm, AJ Causey has his third bad outing of the season, Aaron Combs and Nate Snead aren’t themselves, Drew Beam has one of his rough days and Zander Sechrist and Chris Stamos cannot get out of the first inning, the Vols are advancing to the College World Series.
Tennessee picks up where they left off last weekend and dominates Evansville. The series doesn’t make it to Sunday and Tennessee wins by more than five runs in each game.
Prediction: Tennessee wins, 2-0
Ryan Schumpert
Tony Vitello said on Wednesday that any team that’s good enough to win a regional is deserving to play in the super regional and is fully capable of winning.
And he’s right. The Greenville Regional was a strong one and the Purple Aces twice beat the host team to advance. Evansville boast a deep lineup that has a pair of really good and dangerous hitters at the top. That lineup had a ton of success last week, especially in the power department. Tennessee was the only team to hit more home runs the opening week of the NCAA Tournament than Evansville.
The key for Evansville is to get another strong start from freshman Kenton Deverman. The left-handed pitcher was brilliant last weekend against Greenville and with its lack of pitching depth, the Purple Aces will need it again.
So Evansville is capable but Tennessee is the No. 1 overall seed for a reason and hasn’t lost a weekend series in 2.5 months. The Vols pitching has held up well against just about every test they have faced and their lineup is good enough to overcome Deverman.
Tennessee returns to Omaha.
Prediction: Tennessee wins, 2-0
Tennessee
Tennessee football QB Jake Merklinger plans to enter transfer portal
Tennessee quarterback Jake Merklinger plans to enter the transfer portal, Knox News has confirmed.
On3.com and Rivals.com were the first to report Merklinger’s decision. The transfer portal opens on Jan. 2.
Merklinger has also opted out of the Music City Bowl. No. 23 Tennessee (8-4) plays Illinois (8-4) on Dec. 30 (5:30 p.m. ET, ESPN) in Nashville. Starter Joey Aguilar will play in the bowl game, so Merklinger was not expected to be a factor. Freshman George MacIntyre will serve as the backup.
Merklinger spent two seasons at Tennessee but barely played and failed to win the starting job. He played six games and went 19-of-33 passing for 221 yards and two touchdowns.
In 2024, Merklinger was a third-string freshman when Nico Iamaleava started. In 2025, he competed for the starting job but lost to transfer Joey Aguilar.
By the end of the 2025 season, Merklinger was neck and neck with freshman George MacIntyre for the backup job. And it didn’t appear that Merklinger would factor in the starting job in 2026.
Merklinger, a native of Savannah, Georgia, was a four-star recruit in the 2024 class. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.
Adam Sparks is the Tennessee football beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.
Get the latest news and insight on SEC football by subscribing to the SEC Unfiltered newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox.
Tennessee
Seedy K’s GameCap: Tennessee
But this U of L task in Knoxville against tall favorite Tennessee sure seemed close to that heading in.
Well coached top level foe at its sold out home.
One whose strength — inside scoring and rebounding — made it a bad matchup for the Cards, whose lack of inside depth and strength has been an Achilles heel from the get go.
That the Vols were hungry and angry coming off three straight Ls made a U of L victory seem an almost impossible task.
Then we learned that back issue of Mikel Brown’s is a problem.
Cards were toast before tip.
It was all evident by halftime — actually well before then.
It just takes a peek at a couple statistics.
Tennessee led by only 7, thanks to some tough Cardinal D. And UT’s woeful FT shooting.
That inside game issue: Volunteers 28 points in the paint. Cardinals 10.
That’s right, Tennessee had more points in the paint at the break than Louisville had points total.
That lack of point guard issue: U of L had 9 FGs at intermission. Tennessee had that many assists on 15 buckets.
Louisville’s strength is depth. At least usually.
During the first 20 Tuesday, the Cards had zero points off the pine. Vols 22. (For the game, the disparity was 34-3. Khani Rooths hit a FT. Wild Man Zougris a garbage time slam.)
Another opening stanza reality that might have you feeling the need to clean your glasses.
Only three guys scored. Adrian Wooley with 12, Ryan Conwell with 11, and Sananda Fru with 4.
Louisville’s second half performance is not worth the bandwidth, my time to write about, nor your time to read.
The final, in a lopsided disappointing loss: 83-62.
There is no sugar frosting this. Against teams with major size and inside presence, Louisville has and will continue to struggle.
When your most talented player doesn’t suit up, it makes it more impossible to overcome.
Tennessee
A look at new laws proposed in Tennessee
Enter your email and we’ll send a secure one-click link to sign in.
WKRN is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.
Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.
WKRN is provided by Nexstar Media Group, Inc., and uses the My Nexstar sign-in, which works across our media network.
Nexstar Media Group, Inc. is a leading, diversified media company that produces and distributes engaging local and national news, sports, and entertainment content across its television and digital platforms. The My Nexstar sign-in works across the Nexstar network—including The CW, NewsNation, The Hill, and more. Learn more at nexstar.tv/privacy-policy.
-
Iowa2 days agoAddy Brown motivated to step up in Audi Crooks’ absence vs. UNI
-
Washington1 week agoLIVE UPDATES: Mudslide, road closures across Western Washington
-
Iowa1 week agoMatt Campbell reportedly bringing longtime Iowa State staffer to Penn State as 1st hire
-
Iowa4 days agoHow much snow did Iowa get? See Iowa’s latest snowfall totals
-
Cleveland, OH1 week agoMan shot, killed at downtown Cleveland nightclub: EMS
-
Maine24 hours agoElementary-aged student killed in school bus crash in southern Maine
-
World1 week ago
Chiefs’ offensive line woes deepen as Wanya Morris exits with knee injury against Texans
-
Maryland2 days agoFrigid temperatures to start the week in Maryland