It didn’t take long for Tennessee to be thrown into the fire of conference play.

The Vols hosted South Carolina this past weekend and proceeded to sweep the Gamecocks. They hit 10 home runs and struck out 30 hitters as they outscored their SEC East foe 23-5 over three games.

Carolina is traditionally one of the best programs in the country, but are a bit down at the moment. That’s not the case for perennial powers Ole Miss and Vanderbilt, who Tennessee now turns its attention to for back-to-back road series.

The Rebels (16-4, 2-1 SEC) are currently the top-ranked team in D1 Baseball’s Top 25, while the Commodores (18-2, 3-0 SEC) are ranked No. 4, respectively. Tennessee (20-1, 3-0 SEC) sits at No. 5.

“I think the guys like it,” Tony Vitello told the media Thursday. “That doesn’t mean that they’re cocky or they think they’re going to win every game, or they’re looking ahead, or let’s do this or that, but I think they want to be tested and they want to be challenged. It doesn’t matter what the brand name of the opponent is, if you’re home or away, you’re going to be challenged.

“Guys on our team look forward to it and like when the fire is a little hotter and they’ll have a chance to prove that.”

Before Tennessee turns its attention to a trip to Nashville next weekend to take on in-state rival Vanderbilt, it must handle business in Oxford this weekend against No. 1 Ole Miss.

The Rebels feature one of the best offenses in the country. They rank eighth nationally in slugging percentage, ninth in scoring, 11th in runs, 14th in on-base percentage and 15th in home runs.

“It’s always going to be difficult dealing with any SEC lineup,” Tennessee reliever Redmond Walsh said. “They’re the top team in the country for a reason. One through nine, you can’t really have any lapses, you can’t just pitch around anybody, so that’s the thing, you have to go into it thinking every guy is a leadoff hitter, every guy is a three-hole hitter. They’re experienced and you have to compete every single at-bat.”

Dealing with Ole Miss’ personnel will be half the battle. The Rebels’ home field advantage will be the other.

Oxford-University Stadium features one of the best atmospheres in all of college baseball. Most commonly known as Swayze, it sits over 11,000 people. It’ll once again host large crowds this weekend as Friday and Saturday have already been announced as sellouts.

Vitello isn't concerned about his team not being able to handle the atmosphere.

“They haven’t given the coaching staff reason to,” Vitello said about the atmosphere. “Consistency has been something that we haven’t really preached, but it’s been a commonality that we’ve used an answer to people who want to know the strength of the team. They seem to approach things with a similar enthusiasm day in and day out regardless of what the task is, or what day of the week it is, or the weather, or anything like that.

“We’re going to play in front of a sellout crowd and things like that, so the guys will need to temper their emotions or at least be under control.”

In fact, the Vols like being thrown into the fire.

“We definitely like it,” Vols third baseman Trey Lipscomb said. “As long as Tony Vitello is here, we will never not have that chip on our shoulder. We expect to be good. We expect to be great.”

“My first couple of years maybe we a little bit more were nervous,” Walsh said. “Now we have the talent and we have the preparation that we’re excited for those games. We look forward to them just to see where we are. This is the most talented team I think I’ve played on since I’ve been here and these guys are ready for the task and ready to go out there and hopefully take the series.”

The series gets underway on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. ET. Game two on Saturday is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET, while Sunday’s series finale will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET.

A series win over top-ranked Ole Miss would provide further evidence to the nation that Vitello’s fifth-year Vols are title contenders. For the Vols, it would be expected.

“This team has a lot of talent,” Walsh said. “It would just be another stepping stone for what the end result is for this team. You have to take each day by itself, but I don’t really think there’s a ceiling fo this team.

“I think going on the road, taking a series win, is just another step to where we believe we’ll be at by the end of the season.”