Baseball head coach Josh Elander is recognized during a Tennessee football game against Oklahoma at Neyland Stadium, Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. Cole Moore/RTI

Tennessee baseball made a recruiting splash Wednesday afternoon when two-way prospect Gaven French committed to Josh Elander and the Vols over Clemson, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Vanderbilt.

“Staying home,” French captioned the Instagram post announcing his commitment.

French is a Maryville native, playing his prep baseball at local Heritage High School. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound prospect is both a shortstop and right-handed pitcher and will get the chance to be a two-way player at Tennessee.

The local standout took visits to all five of the previous listed contenders but ended up committing to Elander and his staff at Tennessee. French visited Tennessee in October and then again this past weekend, taking in Vol football’s loss against Oklahoma at Neyland Stadium.

French ranks as the No. 337 player in the 2027 recruiting cycle according to Perfect Game. The high school junior also ranks as the No. 13 player in the state of Tennessee in the 2027 cycle.

More From RTI: What Tennessee HC Josh Elander Said About Poaching Top Florida Assistant

French is the second player to commit to Tennessee baseball since Elander took over as head coach. Right-handed pitcher Kaiden McCarthy committed to the Vols over a top group that included Arizona and Wake Forest on Saturday morning.

The Vols now have 14 commits in their 2027 recruiting class including two top 10 commits, seven top 50 commits and 10 top 100 commits according to Perfect Game.

Elander is known as an elite recruiter as an assistant coach and is quickly living up to that billing as a head coach. Tennessee has elite recruiting classes in the 2026 and 2027 cycle and they have largely kept them together despite Tony Vitello’s departure to professional baseball.

Tennessee’s new head coach has already made a splash in his first week on the job. Last week, Elander poached top Florida assistant Chuck Jeroloman as Tennessee’s new associate head coach.