Tennessee Volunteers Claim 5-1 Victory, Coach Vitello Celebrates 300 Wins

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – The Tennessee Volunteers extended their perfect start to the 2025 college baseball season with a 5-1 victory over the Samford Bulldogs on Friday, February 21. The win marked a significant milestone for Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello as he reached 300 career victories, becoming the fastest coach in program history to achieve this feat.

In front of a chilly yet sunny afternoon crowd at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, the Volunteers demonstrated their pitching prowess, led by starter Liam Doyle. Doyle delivered an impressive performance, striking out 14 batters and allowing only two hits and one earned run over 5.1 innings. This follows his previous outing where he struck out 11 hitters in just five innings.

Through his first two starts of the season, Doyle has accumulated 25 strikeouts, surrendering just five hits and one run in ten innings of work. “I just try to focus on each pitch and trust the defense behind me,” Doyle said. “Every outing is a new opportunity to get better.”

Relief pitcher Tanner Franklin also shone on the mound, contributing five strikeouts during his efforts. Tennessee’s offense got off to a rapid start with a solo home run by Reese Chapman in the second inning. Following that, Cannon Peebles hit a two-run homer in the third to boost Tennessee’s lead to 3-0.

The Volunteers added two more runs in the fourth inning, taking a commanding 5-0 lead. However, Samford finally got on the scoreboard in the fifth when they hit their own solo home run. Despite the Bulldogs’ efforts, they could not capitalize further, as Tennessee’s pitching maintained control throughout the game.

“We prepared well for this matchup, and our pitchers executed the game plan perfectly,” Vitello said. “It’s always nice to win in front of our fans, especially on a day like today.”

This win improved Tennessee’s record to 5-0, emphasizing their dominance early in the season, where they have outscored opponents 80 to 5 in their first five games.

The Volunteers will continue their three-game series against Samford on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. As a highly ranked team and reigning national champions, Tennessee aims to take advantage of their strong start against a competitive Samford squad, which has won several Southern Conference titles in recent years.

“Every game is a new challenge, and we are excited to see how we perform this weekend,” Doyle added, looking ahead to the upcoming games.