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Josh Elander updates Reese Chapman's injury status ahead of Chapel Hill Regional

On3 imageby: Eric Cain05/27/26_Cainer

Tennessee baseball coach Josh Elander told the media that senior outfielder Reese Chapman will be “full-go” for the Chapel Hill Regional this weekend.

“Reese will be full go. So, we’re definitely very excited about that,” the coach said. “He’s really grinding through. I think a huge credit to Dr. (Chris) Klenck and Woody (Jeff Wood) and the people down at UAB for how they handle that situation. Even our admin, just getting him to and from and the people in town because (it was) a pretty scary moment.” 

Elander initially labeled Chapman “day to day” after the senior outfielder was hit in the face by a line drive in Tennessee’s practice last Monday before the SEC Tournament. Chapman missed both of Tennessee’s games in Hoover, which included an 11-6 win over South Carolina and an 8-4 loss to Arkansas.

Chapman was taken to UAB Hospital for further evaluation following the injury in practice at the Hoover Met. Chapman was aware of what happened and communicative following the injury.

Chapman is having a stellar senior campaign, hitting .316 for the Vols in 196 at-bats with 10 home runs and 44 RBI after hitting .273 in 216 at-bats as a junior. He slashed .306/.391/.603 in SEC play with seven homers, a team-best 13 doubles and 26 RBIs as a senior with 14 walks and 27 strikeouts.

“I’m excited to see Reese rocking and rolling,” Elander smiled. “We’ll see if he rolls with the Batman mask or not out there. That’s the one thing left to see. But I’m just pretty damn excited to see him back out there again.”

The outfielder has already scored seven more runs this year (51) compared to last (44). His strikeouts are way down (73 to 41) and his walks are up (31 from 21).

Elander’s Tennessee baseball team will begin their NCAA Tournament run in the Chapel Hill Regional as the No. 2 seed in the grouping this weekend. Tennessee’s first game versus No. 3 seed East Carolina will be on Friday at 12 p.m. ET on ESPNU.

North Carolina is the host team in the regional after being picked as the No. 5 overall seed in the field. VCU is the No. 4 seed.