Why Tegan Kuhns Deserves to Be Tennessee Baseball's Opening Day Starter

Why Tegan Kuhns is deserving of the opening day starter title.

Tennessee's Tegan Kuhns (21) pitches against St. Bonaventure in an NCAA college baseball game on Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Knoxville, Tenn. | Saul Young/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Tegan Kuhns is Tennessee's opening day starter for the 2026 season, as the Vols are set to become one of the top programs yet again, but this time under the leadership of Josh Elander. Kuhns deserves to be the starter, but why is that the case?

Elander elaborated more on the situation.

Why Tegan Kuhns Is The Opening Day Starter

Tennessee pitcher Tegan Kuhns (21) pitches during a NCAA baseball game between the Tennessee Volunteers and Vanderbilt Commodores at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on May 11, 2025. | Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

"Good question. Again, I think he's just made a jump. We talk about the position players from that freshman to sophomore year. Like the theme when I was talking with Tegan and even his dad over the course of the summer, nobody was happy with how the season ended, right? Because he throws in Hoover, and that was kind of it, right? So I think that's kind of springboarded him into the summer. He goes to the Cape and dominates, for lack of a better term. And again, I think that has really driven him throughout the offseason. And again, we just want him to, there's so many things that go with being the Friday night guy, but I think the unique part with our staff is we have a lot of guys that we feel like we could earmark as a Friday night starter. So again, kind of knowing the league, but Reynolds has done a great job with him again, just on the metric side. We got some stuff, I don't want to give out all the all the secrets, but he's made some changes on the pitching side. I think it gives him a little more windows where he can attack both righties and lefties, and then, again, just when you come to just competitiveness, right? I think it's as good as it gets right there with Tegan."

Finishing The Preseason

"Yeah, we're just excited to get going. I know the guys — it's been nice how the NCAA has opened it up. We've had a little bit more time. Had to battle the weather a little bit, but had a good weekend. We're able to get outside for three consecutive days, see those guys compete a little bit. But again, the start of the season is here. We're excited. But again, this will be a process where I told the guys, hey, Opening Day is right around the corner, but this needs to be a deal, this is just the beginning of getting better and better as we go through the course of the year, and then eventually get into SEC play."

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