With the Tennessee Baseball season just over a week away, the Vols are collecting preseason accolades.
Tennessee has four Vols named to the preseason All-SEC baseball team. Chase Dollander and Chase Burns both were named to the All-SEC First Team.
Both pitchers found a lot of success in 2022 and look poised to continue their dominance.
Dollander finished 2022 with a 2.39 ERA in 79 innings. He only gave up 13 walks and struck out 108. Opponents hit just .179 off of Dollander. Burns finished 2022 with a 2.91 ERA in 80.1 innings pitched. He struck out 103 while only giving up 25 walks.
Shortstop Maui Ahuna and pitcher Camden Sewell were named to the preseason All-SEC second team.
Ahuna, Tennessee’s highest-rated transfer, hit .396 in the Big 12, finishing with eight home runs and 48 RBIs in 2022. Sewell had an ERA of 2.52 in 2022, striking out 42 and only walking eight.
Along with the All-SEC honors, Tennessee baseball was picked to win the East, voted by 12 of 14 coaches to do so. Florida was picked to finish second in the East, receiving two votes. Following the Gators was Vanderbilt, South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, and Missouri.
LSU was picked to win the SEC and the West, receiving 11 votes to win the SEC as a whole. The Vols did not receive a vote to win the SEC.
UT is looking to follow up a season where they fell one game short of Omaha. Losing all eight starters in the field, Tony Vitello looks toward the transfer portal to fill some holes.
The Vols brought in Alabama third baseman Zane Denton, Cincinnati outfielder Griffin Merritt, Charlotte reliever Andrew Lindsey via the transfer portal and Ahuna out of Kansas.
All four transfers will likely have an immediate impact for the Vols in 2023. Lindsey is expected to slide into the closer role for Tennessee while Ahuna seems to be the favorite to be the starting shortstop.
The Vols open the season on Feb. 17 when they travel to Scottsdale, Arizona to play in the MLB4 tournament. For the SEC schedule, Tennessee will host Texas A&M, Florida, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State, and Kentucky while traveling to Missouri, LSU, Arkansas, Georgia, and South Carolina.
