Photo via Tennessee Athletics

Tennessee baseball is just eight days away from opening up its 2026 season with a three-game series against Nicholls at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The SEC released its preseason predicted order of finish Thursday, with the league’s coaches predicting Tennessee to finish sixth in the conference.

The Vols came in behind LSU, Texas, Mississippi State, Arkansas and Auburn while coming in directly ahead of SEC rivals Florida, Vanderbilt and Georgia. Tennessee faces the teams ranked first, second, third, eighth, ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th, 14th and 16th in conference play.

Tennessee has consistently been a top 15 team In various preseason rankings. The Vols landed at No. 15 in the USA Today Coaches Poll while Baseball America pegged Tennessee as the No. 13 team in the country in the preseason. Perfect Game pegged Tennessee at No. 3 in its preseason rankings while D1Baseball has the Vols at No. 14.

It was a turbulent offseason of change for Tennessee baseball. Highly successful head coach Tony Vitello left to be the manager of the San Fransisco Giants taking with him a small handful of assistants and staffers including Frank Anderson and Quentin Eberhardt.

Danny White tabbed associate head coach Josh Elander as the program’s new head coach. Elander retained a number of assistants including Ross Kivett. He promoted Josh Reynolds to replace Anderson, hired Florida associate head coach Chuck Jeroloman to replace himself as associate head coach and hired Keegan Knoll to replace Eberhardt.

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On the field, Tennessee returns veterans Reese Chapman, Ariel Antigua and Stone Lawless in the field and is hoping rising sophomores Levi Clark, Chris Newstrom, Manny Marin and Jay Abernathy take a second year step forward.

The Vols added a number of transfers who could make an impact at the plate led by Virginia’s Henry Ford and including Rice’s Blaine Brown, Bowling Green’s Garrett Wright and San Diego State’s Finley Bates.

Tennessee’s pitching staff projects to be even better than its offense. Sunday starter Tegan Kuhns is back and looking for even more after a solid freshman season. LHP Brandon Arvidson also projects as a weekend starter after a strong back half of the 2025 season. Rising sophomore Brayden Krenzel is another returnee after impressing during his freshman campaign.

The Vols are also active with their pitching staff in the portal, adding Virginia’s Evan Blanco, Kennesaw State’s Bo Rhudy, Rutgers’ Landon Mack and ETSU’s Brady Frederick. Freshman LHP Cameron Appenzeller could also make an impact in his debut collegiate season.

Here’s a look at the complete rankings with first place votes and total points.

More From RTI: Where Tennessee Baseball Ranks In USA Today Preseason Coaches Poll

LSU (9) — 231
Texas (1) — 214
Mississippi State (4) — 205
Arkansas (2) — 203
Auburn — 175
Tennessee — 162
Florida — 156
Vanderbilt — 151
Georgia — 133
Ole Miss — 110
Kentucky — 99
Alabama — 87
Texas A&M — 86
Oklahoma — 84
South Carolina — 49
Missouri — 31