Tennessee 2025 SEC Baseball Tournament Exit Interview

(Vol Report photo)

By Jake Mastroianni

SEC Tournament Results: W, 15-10 vs. Alabama; W, 7-5 (12) vs. Texas; L, 10-0 (7) vs. Vanderbilt Record: 43-16

It was a tale of two halves for the defending College World Series champions during the 2025 regular season. Early on, they looked like the obvious best team in the country, starting 28-2 overall and 9-1 in the SEC. 

Looking back, they swept a banged-up Florida team and what turned out to be a really bad South Carolina team in that stretch. 

They won a series against Ole Miss in the middle of April, but then lost their final five SEC series. 

Looking at the overall team numbers, this was one of the more balanced teams in the conference, both in out-of-conference play and in. 

They finished 3rd in the SEC in batting average and 3rd in ERA. As you would expect, they finished second in home runs and had the highest slugging percentage in the SEC. 

The pitching staff held opponents to just a .227 batting average against and led the conference in the regular season with 620 strikeouts. 

Liam Doyle led the way on the pitching side, being named the SEC Pitcher of the Year with a 2.72 ERA and 137 strikeouts in 79.1 innings with a batting average against of just .171. 

Marcus Phillips was a nice sidekick, posting a 3.72 ERA in 67.2 innings with 80 strikeouts. Tanner Franklin, Dylan Loy, and Nate Snead have been the top arms out of the pen. AJ Russell could be a big weapon for them in the postseason as he works his way back from injury. 

It’s an embarrassment of riches on the offensive side as well, but the group has been led by Gavin Kilen, who hit .355 during the regular season with 10 doubles and 14 home runs in 44 games. He’s now also taken over the shortstop job. 

Another transfer who had a major impact right away was Andrew Fischer. He led the team with 22 home runs while driving in 55. They had seven players finish the regular season with double-digit home runs. 

What’s next: 

They may have helped themselves the most of any team in the SEC Tournament as they should be a lock to host a regional with the 11st best RPI and 18 SEC wins. 

Liam Doyle gives you a great chance of winning game one in any regional or series. But with the luxury of hosting, you could save him for game two. 

All of the pieces are there for this team to make another deep run and win it all again, but does this group have the mental toughness to win those close games against great competition? They couldn’t down the stretch of the regular season, but do they flip a switch in June? 

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