Tennessee Vols at Georgia Bulldogs Baseball Preview 2026
It's SEC Baseball Time in Tennessee
It’s SEC opening weekend, and Tennessee (#19, 13-4, 0-0 SEC) is beginning a grueling 10-week league grind by heading to Athens to face Georgia (#6, 15-3, 0-0 SEC). The Vols hit Foley Field with momentum, having won seven of their last eight games and fresh off a dominant 20-2 midweek victory over Tennessee Tech.
Previously on Vols vs. Dawgs
The Vols hold a narrow 128-123 all-time lead in the series, which dates back to 1909. However, UGA has 72-53 record against Tennessee in Athens, and the home team has won the last three series between these programs. Tennessee’s last series win in Athens was in 2021.
Schedule & Starters
Game 1: Friday, March 13; 6:00 p.m. ET (SECN+)
RHP Tegan Kuhns (1-1, 3.09 ERA) vs. UGA RHP Joey Volchko (4-0, 3.00 ERA)
Game 2: Saturday, March 14; 5:00 p.m. ET (SEC Network)
RHP Landon Mack (3-1, 2.38 ERA) vs. UGA RHP Dylan Vigue (3-1, 1.93 ERA)
Game 3: Sunday, March 15; 1:00 p.m. ET (SECN+)
LHP Evan Blanco (1-2, 2.75 ERA) vs. UGA LHP Kenny Ishikawa (1-0, 0.00 ERA)
Preview
It’s been an inconsistent start of the season at the plate for Tennessee’s offense. They seem to have found their stride in the midweek against Tennessee Tech, blasting five home runs—including two grand slams—on a season-high 17 hits. Junior third baseman Henry Ford leads the charge, entering the weekend with a nine-game hitting streak and team-high marks in batting average (.380), home runs (6), and RBIs (20). It will be a much tougher challenge this weekend as SEC play begins.
The weekend will feature a clash of high-caliber arms, with Tennessee’s staff looking to contain a potent Georgia offense. Tennessee’s pitching staff has been a strength this season, ranking 16th nationally in ERA (3.10) and eighth in WHIP (1.05). The bullpen, in particular, has been brilliant, posting an 8-0 record and a 3.51 ERA with 89 strikeouts in 74.1 innings.
The Vols will need every bit of that production to keep pace with a Georgia squad that leads the nation with 61 home runs and averages 11.4 runs per game. Georgia’s Daniel Jackson leads the country in home runs (14) and total bases (75), while Brennan Hudson boasts an NCAA-leading 1.162 slugging percentage.
You can see that as an obstacle or an opportunity. Tennessee was projected to finish sixth in the SEC preseason poll, while Georgia was projected ninth. This opening weekend provides a massive opportunity for the Vols to prove those projections wrong and set the tone for the conference season. It really wouldn’t even take winning the series to do that. If the Vols could steal a game Friday or Saturday to make Sunday’s contest a rubber match, it could get the SEC season started in the right direction.
Extraneous
I played around with writing a preview of Friday’s basketball game against Vandy, but it was hard to come up with something different than what was in last week’s season finale preview (other than Nate Ament will be playing).
But in the course of paying around with a SECT preview, I asked for an AI preview graphic, and for giggles instructed Notebook LM to make the graphic in an “anime” style:
There’s a lot going on there. From Wolftrooper Smokey to Super Saiyan Ja’Kobi. But it’s anime Rick Barnes for me.