No. 1 UCLA baseball (6-2) heads to the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series at Globe Life Field – home of the MLB’s Texas Rangers – in Arlington, Texas. The Bruins will take on three SEC squads between Friday and Sunday – No. 20 Tennessee (6-2), No. 24 Texas A&M (8-0) and No. 4 Mississippi State (9-0). With the three non-conference powerhouses – all of whom have appeared in the national championship across the past five seasons – standing as the only currently ranked squads the Bruins will face this season, Daily Bruin staff writer Noah Massey breaks down each opponent.

No. 20 Tennessee

Team slash line: .292/.405/.564

Team ERA, WHIP and K/9: 2.74, 1.01, 12.1

X-Factor: RHP Tegan Kuhns

While Texas A&M and Mississippi State are still perfect, Tennessee – like UCLA – has already accumulated two losses against an unranked mid-major opponent, as it fell twice to Kent State last weekend and recorded the only series loss in the entire SEC.

Just two years removed from a national championship and a single year removed from making a super regional in the NCAA tournament, the Volunteers entered the 2026 season facing a new challenge – the abrupt loss of their head coach.

Tony Vitello, who rebuilt the program during his eight seasons at the helm, left the team to manage the San Francisco Giants in October – becoming the first ever collegiate coach to go directly to managing an MLB team. Vitello transformed the program from an SEC bottom-feeder to a national powerhouse during his tenure.

Despite losing Vitello, the Vols retained a sizable chunk of their 2025 roster and added multiple impact transfers, allowing it to enter 2026 as the preseason No. 14 ranked team in the nation.

Third baseman Henry Ford – a Virginia transfer – selected Tennessee over the MLB draft prior to Vitello’s departure, where he was considered by MLB Pipeline to be the No. 73 overall prospect. Last season, he slashed .362/.420/.575 for the Cavaliers and hit 11 home runs.

Two-way player Blaine Brown transferred to Tennessee from Rice, where he slashed .292/.362/.493 but was rocked on the mound, posting a 20.77 ERA in just four innings of work.

Brown is considered one of the top prospects in the 2027 draft and has appeared both on the mound – where he has tossed two scoreless innings and struck out five – and in the outfield with the Vols.

For the Bruins, right-hander Tegan Kuhns might prove as the most impactful of the three Vols stars. Kuhns, who is listed as the No. 43 prospect in the 2026 MLB draft according to MLB Pipeline, is also the team’s Friday night starter and will likely face UCLA.

Kuhns features two plus pitches – his fastball and his curveball – and has held opponents to just one run and three hits in his first two starts, where he tossed 12.1 innings.

No. 24 Texas A&M

Team slash line: .357/.487/.636

Team ERA, WHIP and K/9: 2.70, 0.90, 10.4

X-Factor: RF Caden Sorrell

The Aggies were just one win away from taking home a national championship in 2024. The following year, they entered the season ranked No. 1 in the nation.

Despite its preseason ranking, Texas A&M failed to reach the postseason, recording a mere 30-26 record and finishing 14th in the conference.

Nevertheless, the squad has been perfect so far, though it is yet to have a true test – its opponents so far consist entirely of mid-major teams such as Tennessee Tech, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Penn and Lamar.

The Texas A&M roster features four Baseball America Preseason All-Americans, tied with Arkansas for the most. All four players are also draft eligible and placed within MLB Pipeline’s top 50 2027 draft prospects.

Among the four, right fielder Caden Sorrell has had the hottest start, hitting five home runs in seven games and putting up a .429/.467/.964 slash line. Sorrell was also named the SEC player of the week following the Aggies’ first weekend series of the season.

Despite the team’s tremendous slash line, Texas A&M’s offense flashed inconsistency through the first eight games. Though they scored 25 runs in their most recent contest against Lamar, the Aggies managed just three combined runs in their first two contests against the Quakers.

In both contests, Texas A&M did not plate a single runner before the ninth inning and took until the 11th inning of the second contest to score its second run against Penn.

No. 4 Mississippi State

Team slash line: .356/.468/.581

Team ERA, WHIP and K/9: 2.61, 1.09, 13.1

X-Factor: 3B Ace Reese

Despite making a regional tournament, Mississippi State dismissed head coach Chris Lemonis midway through last season.

For the program that won the national championship in 2021 but failed to make a super regional over the next four years, enough was enough.

Mississippi State hired former Virginia coach Brian O’Connor, who failed to make the NCAA playoffs last season after making three Men’s College World Series appearances in four years with his previous squad. O’Connor brought several players with him, retained many important Bulldogs and brought in plenty of new talent via high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

O’Connor kept third baseman Ace Reese, a member of the 2025 NCBWA All-America First Team. Reese slashed .352/.422/.718 with 21 homers last season for Mississippi State and has had a strong start this season, slashing .514/.575/1.000.

The new skipper also managed to keep two-way player Noah Sullivan, another member of the 2025 NCBWA All-America First Team. Sullivan recently overcame a back injury that caused him to miss four games and is yet to pitch this season but slashed .342/.472/.643 with 15 home runs for the Bulldogs last season.

Mississippi State’s pitching staff has been on a hot streak for the past few games, holding opponents to three runs or less for five consecutive contests.

The Bulldogs don’t have a bona fide Sunday starter, as Charlie Foster – who has started both of their Sunday contests – has only thrown five innings this season, meaning the Bruins will likely be facing a combination of different hurlers in that contest.