It's hard to argue that Tennessee isn't having a special baseball season given its 31-6 overall record that includes a 10-5 mark in Southeastern Conference contests.
It's much easier to debate that the Volunteers have played a home-heavy schedule to this point.
Tennessee has played a whopping 28 of 37 games this season inside Lindsey Nelson Stadium, which included a 15-game nonconference homestand and three league series so far out of five. That will change this weekend, when the No. 4 Vols visit No. 3 Kentucky in a three-game set that begins Friday night, and they are welcoming the potential of a hostile environment.
"I love it, and everyone in our locker room loves it," Tennessee redshirt sophomore center fielder Kavares Tears said in a news conference after Tuesday night's 20-5 blistering of Bellarmine. "Our head coach also loves it. We love being the villain, and I think it brings out a different fire.
"We love to compete."
The SEC Network+ streaming option is the only way to view Friday's opener at 6:30, as well as Saturday's 2 p.m. game and Sunday's 1 p.m. finale.
Tennessee is 5-4 on the road this season, having opened at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, with a win over Texas Tech, a loss to Oklahoma and a win over Baylor. The Vols opened SEC play in mid-March by losing two of three at Alabama, and they won two of three at struggling Auburn earlier this month.
"It's nice that we've had a bunch of different looks," Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said, "and if you've been around the guys, you can tell a little bit of the understanding of what it takes to put together a successful road trip. I just hope we have better weather up there than we had last time.
"That was a mess."
The Vols were greeted by cold, rainy conditions in Lexington two seasons ago, when they went 1-2 against the Wildcats. Tennessee beat Kentucky during its run to the 2022 SEC tournament title — so the Vols went 2-2 against the Wildcats that year and 55-7 against everyone else — and Tennessee took two of three against Kentucky last season in Knoxville.
Kentucky is 31-5 overall this spring with a sparkling 14-1 record in league play, so Tennessee even with a sweep would still trail the Wildcats in the SEC East race.
The Vols lead the SEC in a slew of offensive categories, including average (.334), runs (390), hits (413), doubles (100), home runs (101), RBIs (362) and total bases (822). Tennessee's 10 grand slams through 37 games already ranks fifth on college baseball's all-time charts, with the 2003 Arizona State Sun Devils topping that list with 14 in 68 games.
Kentucky leads the SEC in steals (79), sacrifice bunts (24) and fewest homers allowed (26), and the Wildcats rank second to Arkansas in opponents' batting average (.217).
"They have a lot of pitchers back from last year, and that was a good staff," Vitello said. "They just flat out have good stuff."
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.