SEC Baseball Series of the Week Preview: Tennessee in the Shriners Children's College Showdown

College baseball is officially back and the team to watch this weekend is the Tennessee Volunteers. The Volunteers are playing in the Shriners Children's College Showdown in Arlington, Texas.

This event is taking place at the Texas Rangers venue, Globe Life Field. Six teams are competing over the weekend. Those teams are Tennessee, Oregon, Nebraska, Texas Tech, Baylor, and Oklahoma.

Game One: Friday, February 16th

Tennessee's first game of the season is against the 21st ranked team in the country, Texas Tech. The Red Raiders are coming off a great season where they finished with a record of 41-23 while going 12-12 in the Big-12 Conference. They return big time bat, Kevin Bazzell, who batted .348 with 10 home runs and 62 runs batted in.

Game one will be played this evening at seven, central time. The likely pitching matchup between the Volunteers and Red Raiders will be Drew Beam for Tennessee facing up against Kyle Robinson for Texas Tech.

Game Two: Saturday, February 17th

Tennessee's second game in the Shriners Children's College Showdown will be agaisnt the Oklahoma Sooners. The Sooners are coming off a decent year after they finished the 2023 season with a record of 32-28 while going 11-13 in the Big-12 Conference. They return senior outfielder, Bryce Madron who batted .320 with 12 home runs and 51 runs batted in.

Game two will be played Saturday evening at seven, central time. The likely pitching matchup between the Volunteers and the Sooners will be AJ Russell for Tennessee going up against Kyson Witherspoon for Oklahoma.

Game Three: Sunday, February 18th

The final game in of the tournament for the Volunteers will be against the Baylor Bears. The Bears are coming off a rough season where they went 20-35 while going 6-18 in the Big-12 Conference. They return junior infielder, Hunter Teplanszky, who had a batting average of .308 with six home runs and 34 runs batted in.

Game three will be played Sunday evening at six-thirty, central time. The likely pitching matchup between the Volunteers and the Bears will be AJ Causey for Tennessee facing off against Tanner Duke for Baylor

Tennessee has a good opportunity to start the season undefeated. Ranked Texas Tech will be a tough game one, but games two and three should be easier for the Volunteers. All games will be televised through a FloBaseball subscription.