Bryce Harper walks into Phillies game wearing Tennessee baseball jersey ahead of CWS championship

Tennessee baseball enters the championship series of the 2024 College World Series against Texas A&M on the precipice of the first national championship in program history.

As they embark on that quest for immortality, the Vols will have at least one high-profile figure in their corner.

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper, the two-time National League MVP and seven-time all-star, was photographed walking into Citizen’s Bank Park in Philadelphia for his team’s game Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks wearing a pinstriped white Tennessee baseball jersey with an orange Power T.

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Harper’s connection to Tennessee might seem strange or random — he was born and raised in Las Vegas and has spent the entirety of his MLB career in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. — but he has quickly forged a close bond with the Vols and, specifically, their baseball program.

Harper and his family moved to the Knoxville area last winter, according to USA TODAY, and in that time, he has struck up a relationship with Tennessee baseball. In January, Vols coach Tony Vitello posted a picture of he and Harper riding horses together.

The passionate, flamboyant style for which some of the Vols’ best players have been known over the past several years is reminiscent of Harper, something Vitello said Harper’s father pointed out to him. In an interview earlier this year with WBIR-TV in Knoxville, Vitello specifically cited former Tennessee standouts Drew Gilbert and Trey Lipscomb as parallels to Harper. Interestingly enough, Gilbert and Lipscomb are now in the same division as Harper, with the latter on the Washington Nationals and the former in the New York Mets organization.

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“We’ve got some mutual friends in baseball. It’s kind of mind-blowing," Vitello said to WBIR of his relationship with Harper. "I mean, the people I’ve been able to meet, it really tracks back to Vol fans. Kind of lifted up our program and fortunately, I ride that wave, as well. It’s been because of Vol fans and Peyton Manning a lot, too.”

The Vols’ best-of-three championship series against Texas A&M begins Saturday at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. ET.

Tennessee, the national No. 1 seed, has played the No. 3 Aggies once previously this season, a 7-4 victory in the SEC tournament on May 23.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Bryce Harper wears Tennessee baseball jersey ahead of CWS championship