They held a parade in Knoxville on Tuesday night.
Tennessee’s 2024 baseball national championship team was showered with admiration less than 24 hours after the Volunteers defeated Texas A&M 6-5 at Omaha’s Charles Schwab Stadium. The Vols had previously won the Southeastern Conference regular season and tournament and made history Monday by becoming the first in 25 years to emerge as the top-seeded team in the 64-team field.
The Vols also set an SEC record by winning 60 games in a single season.
“It started in the fall and it didn’t stop,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello told the orange-clad crowd. “It started in the fall when these guys decided to be good to each other, and because of their camaraderie and chemistry, they went from being really good players to being great players. They competed for each other, and that’s how it happened.”
“When everyone is there for each other, it seems to work, and for this group here, it worked.”
Tennessee scheduled the parade as soon as possible so Vitello could begin recruiting new recruits.
The fall portion of Tennessee’s road to the national crown included two games played at AT&T Field last November as part of the annual Orange and White Fall World Series. The Vols also played one game at Smokies Stadium in Kodak because Lindsey Nelson Stadium was unavailable due to construction.
“When you were around this group in the fall, you knew it was going to be a special team,” midfielder Hunter Ensley said at the ceremony. “There are just a lot of great, diverse personalities. A lot of guys are going to play professional basketball and I’m just grateful to be a part of their journey.”
Second baseman Christian Moore and pitchers Drew Beam, Kirby Connell and Zander Sechrist also spoke, with Sechrist telling the crowd, “To come to Omaha three times is just a blessing, and to finally finish it in 2024 is great.”
Tuesday’s event also featured brief speeches from University Chancellor Donde Plowman and Athletic Director Danny White, who announced that 11 of Tennessee’s 20 sports teams were ranked in the top 10 nationally.
“We’re building the best athletic department in America here, and these guys are the spearhead of that,” White said, referring to the baseball team. “We needed to get that first national championship to restore that iconic brand of UT and Tennessee sports. They did it for us, and we’re so excited about the platform that this gives us.”
“The most exciting thing is that we’re celebrating a national championship and the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come for Tennessee baseball and the best is yet to come for Tennessee sports. Our future is so bright – it’s unbelievable.”
While Tennessee held its parade, Texas announced the hiring of Texas A&M coach Jim Schlossnagle – less than 24 hours after Schlossnagle said, “I took the job at Texas A&M never to take another job again.”
Poteat is committed
Tennessee received its 15th football commitment for the 2025 contract cycle on Tuesday and the second in two days. It was a non-binding commitment from three-star cornerback Tre Poteat (6-foot-0, 175 pounds) from Verona, Wisconsin.
Contact David Paschall at [email protected].
Photo by Tennessee Athletics / Tennessee fans line the streets in Knoxville on Monday night to celebrate their national championship baseball team.
