This Week in BaseVols (TWIB)

[WallyBalls]

Lol. I’m hoping Alicia Longworth works to fix some of the issues at LNS. I have a lot of confidence in her. I just hope she does it before someone offers her an AD job somewhere else. Thanks for clueing me in on what happened at 1B. That makes more sense! My bet it was Chuck Jeroloman that nipped that in the bud…

I've seen her at the games most weekends and she's definitely engaged. I'm hoping she sees it as an opportunity to do something that can be the centerpiece of her AD resume.

That's close! Chuck definitely came down and had some input once they started talking, but it was a different one... I guess his year in Las Cruces must have spiced him up a little more . I was proud of him!

 

[Local Yokel]

Lol. I’m hoping Alicia Longworth works to fix some of the issues at LNS. I have a lot of confidence in her. I just hope she does it before someone offers her an AD job somewhere else. Thanks for clueing me in on what happened at 1B. That makes more sense! My bet it was Chuck Jeroloman that nipped that in the bud…

These are primarily issues because of team play. When you’re struggling, you look for every excuse. I don’t deny the energy has changed, but I have a feeling if you had a team with the likes of Gilbert, Ferguson and a few others, you’d see seats occupied. Yes, LNS has issues. Yes, it stinks that the students got moved. Still, there are very few venues where a school devotes that much dedicated space to students in baseball. That’s a fact. Most are on a grassy knoll or in the outfield. They really need to take ownership of that area and make the most of it.

The bigger issue are the number of prime seats directly behind the plate. Many of these seats have been bought up by corporate or large private donors. They’ve been asked by the AD to buy them, but these are not passionate baseball fans.

In my section there are blocks of 4-8 seats that are rarely used. When they are, it’s almost always different people. Or, it’s more of a wine and cheese crowd who are more interested in getting to the hospitality room. The entrance to that is also a problem that should have been addressed in reno.

Those fans rarely show and when they do, they rarely cheer or stand when appropriate. As mentioned above Reese should have got a standing O. Stones first AB after injury should have been deafening. These are the same folks who are embarrassed to clap their hands over their heads.

The chippier fans are still there, but spread out in a much larger stadium. The fact is, this a very young team going through a lot of growing pains.

I’m sure Tony and E would have done a few things differently in roster building looking back on it. We’ve had a number of draft eligible sophomores that hurt our being able to build team identity and leadership. We’ve had guys go to the draft that could have returned. Combine that with the trimmed rosters and then the coaching turnover. There’s gonna be bumps in road.

 

[taylorvol]

I've seen her at the games most weekends and she's definitely engaged. I'm hoping she sees it as an opportunity to do something that can be the centerpiece of her AD resume.

That's close! Chuck definitely came down and had some input once they started talking, but it was a different one... I guess his year in Las Cruces must have spiced him up a little more . I was proud of him!

Yes, she seems to like baseball. Her brother was a solid baseball player and coach. That’s great news! I thought RM was very laid back. I like to hear that!

 

[taylorvol]

Courtesy of Brian Hartman from www.tclub.team I found these stats on the Vols very intriguing.

 

[taylorvol]

These are primarily issues because of team play. When you’re struggling, you look for every excuse. I don’t deny the energy has changed, but I have a feeling if you had a team with the likes of Gilbert, Ferguson and a few others, you’d see seats occupied. Yes, LNS has issues. Yes, it stinks that the students got moved. Still, there are very few venues where a school devotes that much dedicated space to students in baseball. That’s a fact. Most are on a grassy knoll or in the outfield. They really need to take ownership of that area and make the most of it.

The bigger issue are the number of prime seats directly behind the plate. Many of these seats have been bought up by corporate or large private donors. They’ve been asked by the AD to buy them, but these are not passionate baseball fans.

In my section there are blocks of 4-8 seats that are rarely used. When they are, it’s almost always different people. Or, it’s more of a wine and cheese crowd who are more interested in getting to the hospitality room. The entrance to that is also a problem that should have been addressed in reno.

Those fans rarely show and when they do, they rarely cheer or stand when appropriate. As mentioned above Reese should have got a standing O. Stones first AB after injury should have been deafening. These are the same folks who are embarrassed to clap their hands over their heads.

The chippier fans are still there, but spread out in a much larger stadium. The fact is, this a very young team going through a lot of growing pains.

I’m sure Tony and E would have done a few things differently in roster building looking back on it. We’ve had a number of draft eligible sophomores that hurt our being able to build team identity and leadership. We’ve had guys go to the draft that could have returned. Combine that with the trimmed rosters and then the coaching turnover. There’s gonna be bumps in road.

All great points… As a business guy, I completely understand moving the students as they had prime real estate that could be sold for a premium. What I don’t understand is putting them on a glorified concrete pad with horrible sight lines, no seats, and no place to even put a drink. In my section, many seats are empty and not a lot of cheering going on….I don’t expect everyone to be loud and exuberant but kind of surprised when they act like they are watching a golf match.

 

[WallyBalls]

These are primarily issues because of team play. When you’re struggling, you look for every excuse. I don’t deny the energy has changed, but I have a feeling if you had a team with the likes of Gilbert, Ferguson and a few others, you’d see seats occupied. Yes, LNS has issues. Yes, it stinks that the students got moved. Still, there are very few venues where a school devotes that much dedicated space to students in baseball. That’s a fact. Most are on a grassy knoll or in the outfield. They really need to take ownership of that area and make the most of it.

The bigger issue are the number of prime seats directly behind the plate. Many of these seats have been bought up by corporate or large private donors. They’ve been asked by the AD to buy them, but these are not passionate baseball fans.

In my section there are blocks of 4-8 seats that are rarely used. When they are, it’s almost always different people. Or, it’s more of a wine and cheese crowd who are more interested in getting to the hospitality room. The entrance to that is also a problem that should have been addressed in reno.

Those fans rarely show and when they do, they rarely cheer or stand when appropriate. As mentioned above Reese should have got a standing O. Stones first AB after injury should have been deafening. These are the same folks who are embarrassed to clap their hands over their heads.

The chippier fans are still there, but spread out in a much larger stadium. The fact is, this a very young team going through a lot of growing pains.

I’m sure Tony and E would have done a few things differently in roster building looking back on it. We’ve had a number of draft eligible sophomores that hurt our being able to build team identity and leadership. We’ve had guys go to the draft that could have returned. Combine that with the trimmed rosters and then the coaching turnover. There’s gonna be bumps in road.

You have a lot of extremely fair points. My section is the same way, I looked on ticketmaster an hour ago and there are 12 seats in my row and immediately behind it listed for sale, just like they are every week. $120 a ticket (UT's blue dot listings being $87 doesn't help matters).


But Taylor already said, the issue with the students isn't necessarily the moving, its what they moved them to.

It can't be understated how much the students rightfully HATE it. I genuinely don't believe there's another ball park (College, minors, majors, or even in indy ball) that has a cattle pen area like that. It makes ZERO sense.

The students at Miss. State, Ole Miss, Arkansas, LSU, etc all have similar or arguably worse sight lines, but show up and are loud enough to affect games. They have bleachers or can bring their own seating. With UTs setup, if they do show up, they're gone within an hour or 90 minutes tops.

I think fixing that area (whether that means bleachers, bolted barstools, or separating it and allowing them to bring their own seating a la Miss. State/Arkansas/UK/Ole MIss) would go a long way to getting some of the energy back from them. I think that's been the biggest drain that's the easiest to fix.

The seat flippers and abandoned/unused big money seats (as well as 80% of the 4Topps and entire porches game after game) are another big issue we agree on, but I have no idea how that could be improved. UT doesn't seem to care as they've already got their money. The porches is particularly sad because there used to be a fair amount of energy coming from out there.

 

[Local Yokel]

All great points… As a business guy, I completely understand moving the students as they had prime real estate that could be sold for a premium. What I don’t understand is putting them on a glorified concrete pad with horrible sight lines, no seats, and no place to even put a drink. In my section, many seats are empty and not a lot of cheering going on….I don’t expect everyone to be loud and exuberant but kind of surprised when they act like they are watching a golf match.

The sight lines aren’t bad at all. New concessions and bathrooms out there. Dedicated entrance. I’ll stand out there and watch when I go get a Petros. I get that the rails are odd, and that needs to be ripped out. Just put metal bleacher seats. Still, I think folks have gone overboard on critiques. I loathe Danny Dimes, but the students need to own it. There’s 30k+ students and, room for what, 600 students. It should be a waiting list.
There’s bigger stadiums with smaller and worse student sections. I can remember students just standing on the concourse piled 4 or 5 deep. A tiered area like this that is closer to the field is much better.

The 4 tops are a failure and i Imagine the renewals will be low. I can’t imagine paying for a 4 tops underneath the student section. Many of the porches are corporate. I know several folks who had gone in together, who gave them up because of gouging. They were some rowdies.

 

[taylorvol]

The sight lines aren’t bad at all. New concessions and bathrooms out there. Dedicated entrance. I’ll stand out there and watch when I go get a Petros. I get that the rails are odd, and that needs to be ripped out. Just put metal bleacher seats. Still, I think folks have gone overboard on critiques. I loathe Danny Dimes, but the students need to own it. There’s 30k+ students and, room for what, 600 students. It should be a waiting list.
There’s bigger stadiums with smaller and worse student sections. I can remember students just standing on the concourse piled 4 or 5 deep. A tiered area like this that is closer to the field is much better.

The 4 tops are a failure and i Imagine the renewals will be low. I can’t imagine paying for a 4 tops underneath the student section. Many of the porches are corporate. I know several folks who had gone in together, who gave them up because of gouging. They were some rowdies.

My daughter never misses a game and I can assure you the sight lines are awful. Her friend is 6’2” and can barely see based on the everyone standing concept. I’ve talked to a lot of students and they all universally hate the cattle pen. They should at least put in bleachers as you Indicated. Agree on the 4 Tops as I never understood the allure or the price.

 

[Local Yokel]

My daughter never misses a game and I can assure you the sight lines are awful. Her friend is 6’2” and can barely see based on the everyone standing concept. I’ve talked to a lot of students and they all universally hate the cattle pen. They should at least put in bleachers as you Indicated. Agree on the 4 Tops as I never understood the allure or the price.

I get it. I personally know Jude. There will always be limitations on standing room. I think one reason they didn’t put bleacher seating is then you have a specific seat and it limits the number you can allow in. I see students in all the standing room areas around the stadium.

 

[vol66]

My daughter never misses a game and I can assure you the sight lines are awful. Her friend is 6’2” and can barely see based on the everyone standing concept. I’ve talked to a lot of students and they all universally hate the cattle pen. They should at least put in bleachers as you Indicated. Agree on the 4 Tops as I never understood the allure or the price.

I have a question. Does the activity fee, card, whatever, get the kids into the games? I’m about to find out whether I like it or not, so it’s a selfish question.

I’ve just assumed the “student section” ran out of money and that seating would be in place sometime in the future. I also figured, right or wrong, that they wanted the “kids” away from the donors, like somehow it makes sense to have classes of people, kids wanna be around kids and adults wanna be around adults, people with money away from people who might not have as much.

All that said…who wants to stand up for nine innings? When I see Randy Boyd, Donde and Danny standing with em, I’ll have Hope! After all, the kids are why you’re there.

GBO!!! Huge series this weekend!!!!

 

[preacherman20]

One of the problems is people want a great event for nothing. I've not been able to sell for reasonable price, what it cost me, tickets right behind home plate the last 2 home weekends. I have ate Tuesday games and not been able to give them away. They want to go to today's SEC baseball for the 2010 prices while getting high level competition games. I've heard so many people say I remember when I could bring a can and get in. Why should I pay $50 a ticket to watch? That is what it cost for the SEC games.

 

[taylorvol]

I have a question. Does the activity fee, card, whatever, get the kids into the games? I’m about to find out whether I like it or not, so it’s a selfish question.

I’ve just assumed the “student section” ran out of money and that seating would be in place sometime in the future. I also figured, right or wrong, that they wanted the “kids” away from the donors, like somehow it makes sense to have classes of people, kids wanna be around kids and adults wanna be around adults, people with money away from people who might not have as much.

All that said…who wants to stand up for nine innings? When I see Randy Boyd, Donde and Danny standing with em, I’ll have Hope! After all, the kids are why you’re there.

GBO!!! Huge series this weekend!!!!

Yes. Baseball is free with student ID. Most students (and most people) have no desire to stand for 3 hours. @preacherman20 is a rare exception. .

 

[taylorvol]

I get it. I personally know Jude. There will always be limitations on standing room. I think one reason they didn’t put bleacher seating is then you have a specific seat and it limits the number you can allow in. I see students in all the standing room areas around the stadium.

Jude seems like a sharp grad student. I wish he’d call in more often and start a student petition. They don’t need to put #s on the bleachers. Just make it first come first served same as it is now. Pull out the glorified fence posts that serves no purpose and put in seats or bleachers. Problem solved!

 

[vol66]

One of the problems is people want a great event for nothing. I've not been able to sell for reasonable price, what it cost me, tickets right behind home plate the last 2 home weekends. I have ate Tuesday games and not been able to give them away. They want to go to today's SEC baseball for the 2010 prices while getting high level competition games. I've heard so many people say I remember when I could bring a can and get in. Why should I pay $50 a ticket to watch? That is what it cost for the SEC games.

You are very gracious, as are others, to offer up reasonable tickets, I watch that thread constantly trying to figure out just one game a couple of us can make. Many times I’ve thought, “F it! Quit asking for permission.”

But, life gets in the way sometimes.

 

[Local Yokel]

Jude seems like a sharp grad student. I wish he’d call in more often and start a student petition. They don’t need to put #s on the bleachers. Just make it first come first served same as it is now. Pull out the glorified fence posts that serves no purpose and put in seats or bleachers. Problem solved!

I got nothing against those improvements. Jude is a great young man. Love your content BTW.

 

[taylorvol]

I got nothing against those improvements. Jude is a great young man. Love your content BTW.

thank you. Appreciate that very much.

 

[BaseVOLS2023]

Thoughts on how Vols match up with Alabama?

 

[vol66]

Thoughts on how Vols match up with Alabama?

The RPI kinda speaks for ‘em and the rankings and all. Good team, not gonna be easy even at home, which has been pointed out. Just me, but the rubber meets the road defensively in a glaring style. Believe it or not, we’re pretty good and they aren’t. Pitching, Hitting, we’re in the same-ish lane but maybe the Sunday guy, or in this case, Saturday guy has something and to be honest I haven’t watched enough of em to pass judgment. They are solid, and a lock to host. It’s gonna be a tall order. Hopefully the atmosphere will be electric.

RPI (Live) 2026 College Baseball | WarrenNolan.com

2026 College Baseball RPI (Rating Percentage Index) Updated in REAL-TIME for Every Team at the Completion of Every Game.

www.warrennolan.com

SEC Statistics

stats.secsports.com

You get the idea.


GBO

 

[BaseVOLS2023]

Courtesy of Brian Hartman from www.tclub.team I found these stats on the Vols very intriguing.

View attachment 827940

This is shocking—unreal how BaseVols dominated prior to 4/5/25.

 

[BaseVOLS2023]

The RPI kinda speaks for ‘em and the rankings and all. Good team, not gonna be easy even at home, which has been pointed out. Just me, but the rubber meets the road defensively in a glaring style. Believe it or not, we’re pretty good and they aren’t. Pitching, Hitting, we’re in the same-ish lane but maybe the Sunday guy, or in this case, Saturday guy has something and to be honest I haven’t watched enough of em to pass judgment. They are solid, and a lock to host. It’s gonna be a tall order. Hopefully the atmosphere will be electric.

RPI (Live) 2026 College Baseball | WarrenNolan.com

2026 College Baseball RPI (Rating Percentage Index) Updated in REAL-TIME for Every Team at the Completion of Every Game.

www.warrennolan.com

SEC Statistics

stats.secsports.com

You get the idea.


GBO

Thank you.

 

[chuckiepoo]

This is shocking—unreal how BaseVols dominated prior to 4/5/25.

That TAMU series was a soul sucker.

 

[WallyBalls]

Jude seems like a sharp grad student. I wish he’d call in more often and start a student petition. They don’t need to put #s on the bleachers. Just make it first come first served same as it is now. Pull out the glorified fence posts that serves no purpose and put in seats or bleachers. Problem solved!

And no one said how wide the seats have to be...Lord knows they proved that in Neyland

 

[chuckiepoo]

And no one said how wide the seats have to be...Lord knows they proved that in Neyland

Carla sez, take two! They’re small…

 

[taylorvol]

This Week in BaseVols (TWIB)
4/28/26

If the BaseVols were a stock, they would have cratered after Thursday nights pitching debacle against Alabama. Candidly, the Vols looked like the “Bad News Bears” on the mound giving up 10 walks, 6 hit by pitches, and 2 balks. No, that wasn’t a typo as that actually happened all on Thursday evening. The Vols used 7 pitchers who combined on to allow 10 hits while giving up 12 runs (all earned). Landon Mack took the loss and looked absolutely gassed. On the positive side, the Vols outhit the Tide by collecting 11 hits and 8 runs led by Garrett Wright’s 2 HRs and Henry Ford collected a double and a HR.

Who Saw This Coming?

Due to rain being predicted for Saturday, Coach Elander decided to have a double header on Friday in lieu of the 1pm game scheduled for Saturday. Unlike last April’s DH sweep by TX A&M, the Vols made a statement by “DH sweeping” the hapless Tide. In fact, UT ended up having their best offensive series of the season by sweeping Friday’s DH with a combined score of 21-4. For the 3 game series, the BaseVols hit .318, scored 29 runs, collected 34 hits including 7 Home runs, and 6 doubles. The Vols were led by freshman DH Trent Grindlinger at .583 going 7-12 with a double and 2 HRs as well as sophomore LFer Blaine Brown at .500 going 6-12 with a double and 2 HRs.

Tegan Kuhns pitched like the future 1st rounder that he is by pitching a complete game 8 innings. Unlike earlier in the season, Kuhns is maintaining his velocity, pitching with absolute conviction, and landing his breaking ball. Kuhns gave up a paltry 3 hits, no runs, 9 Ks, and only one walk. He was simply outstanding! In the final game, Evan Blanco pitched 6 innings and gave up 5 hits, 3 runs, with 9 Ks and only 1 walk. That’s some superb starting pitching!

Random Thoughts and Observations on the BaseVols:

I wouldn’t be surprised to see Kuhns moved back to the game 1 / Friday starter this week against KY. Perhaps Appenzeller or Arvidson starts on Saturday with Mack coming in as the first option from the bullpen. I see no reason to mess with success and move Evan Blanco from his steady day 3 / Sunday spot in the rotation.

Nothing seemed to go right for the Vols on Thursday night. Peyton Steele entered the game as a replacement for 5th place hitter Justin Osterhouse who was injured while stretching in the on deck circle. Peyton Steele then proceeded to hit a bases loaded 3-run double just missing a grand slam off Appenzeller by a couple of feet.

Something I never thought I’d say, but I’d take the 2026 version of Manny Marin over the 2026 Justin LeBron all day long. Marin has played incredible defense, and has been solid at the plate.

Alabama is 2nd only to KY in the SEC in Hit by Pitches and 3rd in walks. After Thursday’s debacle, the Tide only enhanced those statistics. TN obviously made some adjustments as the final 2 games were pitched extremely clean. TN will need to repeat Friday’s performance as KY will be focused on taking Hit by Pitches by leveraging their elbow guards and crowding the plate. KY will also test UT’s newfound focus on holding runners and not allowing “free 90s” as Elander likes to say.


Don’t look now but UT is leading the SEC in fielding percentage and are tied for 2nd nationally at .985. Coach Vitello has to be impressed as he didn’t necessarily have elite defenses while he was leading the BaseVols.


Both TN’s offense and Coach Elander seem to be hitting their stride and gaining momentum as we reach the final 3 series of the SEC season. Closing out the season strong will be important not only for the playoffs but for offseason portal recruiting and retention of UT’s core returning players (Grindlinger, Clark, Brown, Abernathy, Appenzeller, and Mack). I’m assuming Grimmer, Marin, Lawless, Wright, Ford, Kuhns, and Arvidson all leave via the MLB draft.


Mark Hindy and Brady Frederick have been very disappointing transfers and likely won’t be counted on anytime soon to get big outs in the bullpen. After Cam Appenzeller, Brandon Arvidson, and Bo Rhudy, a hopefully resurgent Brayden Krenzel and Nic Abraham will seemingly get those opportunities and will need to come up big in relief if TN will continue to make a run.

UT has been absolutely dominant in midweek action. The BaseVols are the only SEC team without a midweek loss going 11-0 and out scoring opponents 120-31. I respect the fact that unlike many others, UT historically doesn’t cancel midweek games late in the season against low RPI teams. With that said, West GA’s RPI of 259, Presbyterian’s RPI of 268, and Belmont’s RPI of 216 won’t be doing UT any favors in attempting to improve their current RPI ranking of 29 (9 SEC teams are ranked higher). TN is currently ranked #12 in ELO (6 SEC teams are ranked higher), 28th by the Coaches Poll, 24th by Baseball America, and Unranked by D1 Baseball. UT currently stands at 29-15 and 10-11 in the SEC with 9 conference games remaining. I still think UT will make the playoffs with a 13-17 SEC record provided they don’t stumble in their remaining midweek games. To host, UT would need to finish at 16-14 and make it to the weekend in Hoover.



Despite their struggles and slow starts, Coach Elander has showed tremendous loyalty to both Levi Clark and Blaine Brown. Clark has raised his SEC batting average to a more respectable .262 and has played well at 1B and at Catcher. I mistakenly thought it was time to give Brown a brief reset last week during the Lipscomb game. Well, Brown decided to “reset himself” and has been on an absolute heater at the plate. After going 2-4 on Tuesday against Lipscomb including a HR and double, Brown went 6-12 vs Bama with a double and 2 HRs. He seems to be taking much better approaches and is finally using all fields by allowing the ball to travel deeper at the plate with a backside swing vs all pull previously.


TN needs to take 2 out of 3 from the KY Mildcats who try way too hard to be weird. The kittens love to do softball like cheers, wear silly pink fuzzy hats, sport fake blue mustaches, and generally come across as sophomoric and juvenile. They act like tough guys with their goal of getting hit by pitches but unlike “The Soldier”, Garrett Wright, they all wear huge padded elbow / arm guards when they crowd the plate. Candidly, they rival Vanderbilt as the most unlikable and cringy team in college baseball. Since this is by far the easiest series remaining, I’m hoping for a sweep but UT must win the series to keep alive any chance of hosting a Regional. GBO!



Taylor

 

[Volstylexx]