CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — It’s never easy to say goodbye to a program that has meant so much to a person, yet such is the task for senior Reese Chapman.
Tennessee baseball’s season came to an end with a 5-4 loss to VCU in the Chapel Hill regional, and so with it, Chapman’s collegiate career.
The senior put the Vols out front in the third inning with a two-run homer, and he delivered a key hit in the eighth to continue a rally that produced the Vols’ fourth run of the day. Having advanced to third in that same inning, Chapman represented the game-tying run for Tennessee before being stranded on a Jay Abernathy groundout. That was one of the many runners the offense left on base as they never found the big hit they needed to continue their rallies.
“We gotta be able to get it done,” head coach Josh Elander said. “Got some bases situations, weren’t able to do it. I know Reese took a good swing, and obviously Stone as well, so we’re able to tag it, but you know, when you get a chance to blow the game open early or put pressure on the guys, we just didn’t do it the last two days.”
After the game, the team gathered for their huddle as per usual, yet the circumstances and their emotions were understandably different.
“You let the emotions go,” Chapman said. “I think we’re all manly enough to let it fly. It’s alright to cry in front of your brothers, but I think it’s just some of the guys like me that won’t be here next year, just saying goodbye to the younger guys, but also telling them it’s their program now and just to go be the dude, learn from our mistakes and don’t make them again.”
“I think it’s important to kind of tell each guy how proud you are, about how much you love them, especially a guy like Reese right here,” catcher Stone Lawless said. “We’ve been through it my whole time here, obviously, he’s been a year longer, but breaks my heart to see this is his last game.”
Few in program history accomplished what Chapman did. In his four years with Tennessee, he won an SEC title and twice went to the College World Series, helping the program win its first national championship in 2024. His defining moment of that title run came in Omaha, when he homered against North Carolina as part of their 6-1 victory over the Tar Heels that pushed the program into the national semifinal.
“He’s just a winner, period,” Elander said. “He’s a winning player, a winning person, he’s loyal, he’s a great friend, he’s a great teammate, was raised by great parents.”
It was a rollercoaster of a season for Chapman and the Vols, and at any point, they could have checked out. They never did.
“We knew what we wanted as a group,” Lawless said. “We didn’t want this year to just continue to go downhill and be done at the end of the season after the SEC tournament. We relied on each other. We have a lot of pride in that, and the coaching staff always says, take what you want.”
While the Vols fell short in Chapel Hill, Chapman left it all out there, finishing 2-for-4 with both of his RBI’s coming on his aforementioned homer.
“This program means everything to me,” Chapman said. “I told the Vol Nation that I would give my all for Tennessee, and that’s the theme over for the University of Tennessee. I wouldn’t change anything over my last four years here, and for my skipper, right here to the right of me, I will do anything for him.”
The bond between Elander and Chapman goes back long before the outfielder took an at-bat for the Vols. Having known coach Elander since he was 14 years old, he’s grown up right before his skipper’s eyes to become the winner and friend Elander said he was.
“It’s funny, we used to talk when he was young, he would just say yes sir to everything we said before we even finished saying anything,” Elander said. But just how far he’s come on a personal level to who he is now, the guy’s gonna have a ton of success in pro ball, and then whatever else he does in life.”
The season ends, and so with it, the career of Reese Chapman. He departs from Tennessee as a leader and a national champion.
