Why Josh Elander believes Tennessee baseball might have its mojo back

Q: What were the scores of the Tennessee baseball games against Mississippi State?

Tennessee baseball won the three games against Mississippi State with scores of 6-5, 6-2, and 7-2.

Q: Who is the coach of Tennessee baseball and what did he say about the team's performance?

Josh Elander is the coach of Tennessee baseball, and he believes the team may have regained its mojo following their recent successful games.

Q: What factors contributed to Tennessee baseball's success in the series against Mississippi State?

The team's success was attributed to timely hitting, strong pitching, and a bullpen that effectively maintained leads late in the games.

Q: How does this series impact Tennessee baseball's season record?

With the sweep, Tennessee baseball improved its season record to 24-12 and 7-8 in the SEC.

Why Josh Elander believes Tennessee baseball might have its mojo back

Coach Josh Elander believes Tennessee baseball may have regained its mojo with an eye-opening road sweep over No. 8 Mississippi State.

The Vols (24-12, 7-8 SEC) got timely hitting, strong pitching and a stingy bullpen that refused to give up leads late in the game. That combination helped UT beat Mississippi State 6-5, 6-2 and 7-2 in three games, respectively, in Starkville.

It’s the kind of turnaround the slumping Vols had been looking for.

“It’s massive,” Elander said. “It needs to be a mojo turning point for our guys, knowing that wherever we play in this league, we got a chance to be in the game.”

Tennessee had entered the series on a five-game road losing streak. And it hadn’t pulled off an SEC series sweep since taking down South Carolina in March 2025.

At first glance, Dudy Noble Field — one of college baseball’s toughest road environments — seemed like an unlikely place to turn that around.

But Tennessee has dominated Mississippi State (26-10, 7-8) in recent years. This was the Vols’ 11th straight win in the all-time series, and they haven’t lost at Dudy Noble Field since March 26, 2017.

Here are three takeaways from UT’s series sweep of Mississippi State.

Tennessee could get back on NCAA tournament bubble

Before the Mississippi State series, Tennessee appeared to be out of the NCAA tournament picture. But a road sweep over a top-10 team could change those projections quite a bit.

Now that the Vols have won close SEC games, Elander said they must take their momentum back to Knoxville.

“The theme has been that the door swings both ways, so just be ready for this thing to turn,” he said. “We have a long, long way to go, but this is a massive weekend for our club.”

Tennessee hosts UNC Asheville on April 14 (6 p.m. ET) to start a nine-game homestand at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols face Ole Miss in an SEC series on April 17 (6:30 p.m. ET), April 18 (6 p.m. ET) and April 19 (1 p.m. ET). All four games will stream on SEC Network+.

“We can’t get giddy. We have to look at what the differences between the end of games earlier in the year versus how we handled this and playing in an environment like this,” Elander said. “But I can’t wait to get back to Lindsey Nelson Stadium.”

Tennessee has 20 regular-season games and the SEC tournament remaining to make a late surge toward the NCAA tournament.

The Vols made NCAA super regionals in each of the past five seasons under former coach Tony Vitello, including three College World Series appearances and the 2024 national title. When Vitello became the manager of the San Francisco Giants this season, Elander was promoted to head coach.

Streamlined bullpen was lights-out

Tennessee used only one starter and one reliever in each of the first two games against Mississippi State. That streamlined bullpen gave it flexibility to finish off Game 3.

In Game 1, Landon Mack had a four-inning start. Freshman Cam Appenzeller (5-0) tossed five innings of strong relief, allowing only two runs.

In Game 2, Tegan Kuhns (2-3) had a solid six-inning start, taking a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Brandon Arvidson followed with three scoreless innings of relief.

With a fresh bullpen and Evan Blanco (3-2) on the mound, UT controlled Game 3. Blanco allowed two runs on five hits in 6⅔ innings. Relievers Brady Frederick, Chandler Day and Bo Rhudy finished it off by working out of jams in the late innings.

“It started with (Appenzeller) on Friday, Mack and Appy. If we can just go with two (pitchers in Game 1), we can mix and match (later in the series),” Elander said.

The strong finish in Game 3 was a welcome sight for the Vols, who had blown five-run leads in losses in three of Blanco’s previous four starts.

Vols were double trouble throughout lineup

Tennessee made its swings count, with 14 of its 33 hits going for extra bases. Specifically, it recorded 10 doubles in the series, and that damage was spread throughout the lineup.

Manny Marin and Levi Clark had two doubles each in the series. Jay Abernathy had two doubles in Game 2. Reese Chapman had two doubles in Game 3. Trent Grindlinger and Garrett Wright had one double each.

“They’re just letting it happen instead of trying too hard,” Elander said. “I think that was the issue (earlier in the season). It wasn’t the approach or anything like that. But guys were just staying on the baseball (against Mississippi State).”

The Vols had a balanced and opportunistic attack at the plate. Wright, Marin and Grindlinger led the team with five hits each in the series. Clark, Chapman and Henry Ford each hit a home run.

UT was 7-for-12 with runners on base in Game 3 to finish off the sweep.

Adam Sparks is the Tennessee beat reporter. Email adam.sparks@knoxnews.com. X, formerly known as Twitter*@AdamSparks. Support strong local journalism by subscribing at knoxnews.com/subscribe.*

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This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Why Josh Elander believes Tennessee baseball might have its mojo back