Tennessee baseball is back in the Lone Star State.

No. 20 Tennessee heads to Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, where it will compete in the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series. Over the weekend, the Big Orange will go head-to-head against top-ranked UCLA (6-2), Arizona State (8-1) and Virginia Tech (7-1). 

After a rough weekend series against Kent State, which saw the Vols drop their first non-conference series since 2020, Tennessee will look to rebound against the nation’s best, and two other teams off to hot starts, to open the season. 

How to watch Tennessee baseball

Each of Tennessee’s games over the weekend will be streamed live on the FloSports app. Alternatively, there will be an audio broadcast of the game available on UTSports.com.

Main event

By far the most intriguing game of the weekend for Tennessee will be its Friday night matchup against No 1. UCLA. The Bruins were among the many top-ranked teams to lose mid-week matchups, like LSU and Arkansas. Still, they present an important early-season test for the Vols.

The big name to watch throughout the game is the Bruins’ shortstop, Roch Cholowsky, who could very well be the top overall pick in this summer’s MLB Draft. The junior has hit six homers and driven in 12 runs through eight games this season, exhibiting good power while hitting for plenty of average.

However, the reality the Vols face is that Cholowsky is just one of the many problems the very talented Bruins will present offensively. 

Conversely, it will be a tremendous test for Tegan Kuhns, who has started his season nicely by allowing just one earned run in his 12.1 innings of work. His start against UCLA will show how real his early-season success is.

Offensive awakening

Offense was a concern over the weekend against Kent State, and the struggles lingered for much of the game against Bellarmine until their seventh-inning explosion put the game away.

The recent emergence of Jay Abernathy has been a welcome sight, as he leads the Vols with a .407 batting average. Blaine Brown and Tyler Myatt have provided a good dose of power, but otherwise, the Vols are searching for some more consistency from players like Manny Marin and Levi Clark.

As things stand, Tennessee is averaging just 6.9 runs per game to start the season, over a run lower than their 8.17 runs per game output last season. This weekend will be a good test for the Vols to find some offensive consistency against tough teams.

Probables:

Friday: Kuhns (1-0, 0.73 ERA)

Saturday: Landon Mack (1-1, 1.42 ERA)

Sunday: Evan Blanco (1-1, 2.00 ERA)