KNOXVILLE — The 2020 NCAA baseball season opens Friday and the University of Tennessee baseball team is coming off a breakout 2019 campaign that saw it win 40 games and make the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2005.
Vols Wire takes a look at the 2020 Tennessee baseball team as it introduces the team position.
The first installment of the series introduces the Volunteers’ outfielders.
UT Diamond Vols: The outfielders
Returners: Alerick Soularie, Evan Russell, Zach Daniels and Christian Scott.
Soularie had a breakout first season last year. It was his first season on Rocky Top after he spent his freshman year at San Jacinto Junior College in Texas.
He was a 2019 All-SEC selection and has garnered multiple preseason All-America honors.
He led Tennessee in batting average (.357), on-base percentage (.466) and slugging percentage (.602).
Soularie had 11 home runs, drove in 46 runs, scored 52 runs and recorded 118 total bases. He had 70 hits.
Russell, a junior, has appeared in 97 games during his two seasons in Big Orange Country, making 85 starts. He has a career batting average of .268.
He has 79 hits, including 24 that have gone for extra bases, including 13 career doubles and has socked nine home runs. Russell, who will provide leadership for UT this season, also has a pair of career triples.
Daniels, also a junior, will look for playing time in a crowded outfield for the Vols. He has a .176 career batting average and shown power as he has nine lifetime round-trippers.
A sophomore from Clarksville, Scott hit .321 in 21 games. He made seven starts for the Vols and has nine hits, including three doubles and five runs scored.
Newcomers include: Matt Turino (a junior from Toronto and a junior college transfer from Missouri); Drew Gilbert (a freshman from Stillwater ,Minnesota); Jordan Beck (a freshman from Hazel Green, Alabama); Ethan Anderson (a freshman from Woodstock, Georgia); Zane Keener (a freshman from Knoxville and s three-time state champion at Christian Academy of Knoxville where he played for legendary coach Tommy Pharr.).