Surprise, surprise: University of Tennessee department of strategic information has just announced that the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame has just announced that Tennessee baseball is being honored as the Male Amateur Team of the Year.

We’ll not discuss the word “amateur” but do hold your applause. Hardware will be handed out in July.

How can this be the team of the year, you ask? Maybe the honorable hall and UT executive thinkers are running a year behind, talking about last year. The 2024 baseball Vols won the College World Series. The 2025 baseball Vols have lost 14 Southeastern Conference games and declined into disappointment.

Coach Tony Vitello has not been asked to refund any of his No. 1 salary in the college baseball world but the drop in team productivity is unsettling for the multitude of fans helping fund Lindsey Nelson Stadium enhancements.

As is the custom, the flawed Vols lost two of three this past weekend at Arkansas. Five runs in the third inning of the rubber game did it – two hits, two walks, one error, a balk call that wasn’t a balk and a grand slam.

That made five consecutive SEC series lost and six of seven. In mid-March, Tennessee swept Florida and was on top of the polls with a 19-0 record, best start in UT history. It has since gone 13-14 against conference foes.

This was not mass failure. Andrew Fischer, Hunter Ensley, Dalton Bargo and Gavin Kilen have had very good or good seasons. Liam Doyle is in a class of his own as best pitcher.

I thought the erosion started on April 5. Tennessee dropped a home double-header to Texas A&M. After the shock subsided, the defeats were explained away. The Aggies were national finalists last season but the Vols took the title. A&M came hungry for revenge.

Results were depressing. The Aggies hit 11 home runs. They scored 26. They won the second game, 17-6. The mercy rule allowed the carnage to end after eight innings.

“That’s baseball,” Vitello said.

The coach also said the Aggies won in about every facet of the grand old sport. He said there might be a way to analyze poor decisions, point out mistakes and explain the need for smarter base-running or improved pitching.

“But you know, it’s really simple. At the end of the day, they played better than we did.”

Two Braydens, Krenzel and Sharp, young pitchers, will never forget what happened to them. They combined to retire five batters but allowed nine runs in something misnamed relief.

In the weekends that followed, rivals accumulated an assortment of runs without benefit of genuine RBIs. There were walks with the bases loaded, wild pitches, one theft of home and throwing or fielding errors on other stolen bases.

Pitchers, catchers and infielders didn’t or couldn’t stop rival runners from romping around the bases. Pitchers did not deploy conventional slide steps. I don’t know why not.

Vol batters did not appear acquainted with the term “situational hitting.” Vitello said too many were swinging at pitches that were not strikes and taking pitches that were. Tennessee defensive statistics bottomed out at next to worst in the SEC.

There has been no panic. Bad weather took some of the blame. Sometimes the wind was blowing out. There were valid complaints about poor umpiring. There was bad luck, quirky plays that turned out wrong.

There were fan debates about whether Tennessee has sufficient talent. I thought recruiting had been outstanding. Vitello said early that young Vols have high potential but the team is not the most talented in the country.

The coach is certain it is better than it has played. I think he has never stopped thinking it can win. It will get the next chance in the SEC tournament, Wednesday morning against Alabama or Missouri.

Even if you believe in miracles, if you still hope Omaha remains a possibility, do bet light.

Marvin West welcomes comments or questions from readers. His address is marvinwest75@gmail.com