Tennessee baseball will compete in the 25th annual Astros Foundation College Classic next season at Minute Maid Park in Houston, Texas, as announced on Monday.
Scheduled for the third weekend of the 2025 season, Tennessee will face Oklahoma State on Friday, Feb. 28 at 4:05 p.m. ET, Rice on Saturday, March 1 at 12:05 p.m., and Arizona on Sunday, March 2 at 12:05 p.m. Texas A&M and Mississippi State are also participating in the nine-game tournament.
The tournament schedule is tentative and subject to change, although it is unclear whether this means opponents or game times might be altered.
This will be Tennessee’s second trip to Houston for a nonconference weekend in four seasons, having previously played in the Shriners Hospitals for Children College Classic in 2022 against Texas, Baylor, and Oklahoma.
Next season will mark the fourth time in eight seasons that Tony Vitello’s team will play in Texas during nonconference play. They participated in the Round Rock Classic in 2020 and started last season at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas.
Tennessee recently secured their first national championship in their seventh appearance at the Men’s College World Series, the first since finishing as the runner-up to Oklahoma in 1951.
“No better team to win for the University of Tennessee than a bunch of guys who were truly the definition of a team,” Vitello said. “And no better play for our program to, I think, be the winning run on that slide, a guy (Hunter Ensley) that’s just built with a ton of grit. And his teammates follow his leadership. And it’s a great example of how this group got things done.”
Tennessee became the first No. 1 overall seed to win the national championship since Miami in 1999 and the first SEC team to achieve 60 wins in a season. They are the fourth SEC team to win the SEC regular season title, SEC Tournament title, and NCAA Men’s College World Series in the same year.
Vitello’s first national championship came in his seventh season at Tennessee, during his fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, and their third trip to Omaha in the last four seasons. Tennessee is the only SEC team and one of only two nationally (alongside Virginia) to have appeared in the College World Series in three of the last four seasons (2021, 2023, 2024), including their first consecutive trips.
“I’ve been blown away by how friendly everybody is, how involved everybody is,” Vitello said about Tennessee. “And loyalty is a very important word to everybody, but especially to an Italian fella, and I don’t know that there’s a more loyal fan base and really just community when you’re in that state.”
Under Vitello, Tennessee has a 27-11 record in five NCAA Tournament appearances. His 27 NCAA Tournament wins tie him with Rod Delmonico, the program’s all-time wins leader (699) and NCAA Tournament wins leader (27). Delmonico went 27-19 in eight NCAA Tournament appearances and led the Vols to the College World Series three times (1995, 2001, 2005).
