Tennessee baseball and Vanderbilt resume their rivalry this weekend when the Vols host the Commodores for a three-game series at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville.
The series comes on the penultimate weekend of the regular season with both the Vols and Commodores looking to get right before the postseason while also vying for NCAA Tournament seeding. According to D1Baseball’s latest NCAA Tournament projected field, it might not be the last time the two teams meet this season.
D1Baseball has Vanderbilt as the No. 8 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, earning the final national seed. They have Tennessee as the No. 9 overall seed, opening up the scenario for the two rivals to face each other in a super regional series in Nashville.
Joining Tennessee in the projected Knoxville Regional includes two-seed Wake Forest, three-seed ETSU and four-seed Akron. There’s some potentially strong storylines with the regional. Former Tennessee pitcher Matthew Dallas is a starter at Wake Forest while ETSU beat the Vols in Knoxville earlier this season.
More From RTI: What Tony Vitello Said Following Win Over Indiana State, Previewing Vanderbilt
The two teams have similar resumes entering this weekend’s series in Knoxville. Vanderbilt is ranked xxth nationally with a 34-15 (14-10 SEC) record. Tennessee is ranked 15th nationally with a 38-11 (14-10 SEC) record.
Tony Vitello’s eighth Tennessee squad enters the weekend series struggling, having dropped its last three and four of its last five weekend series.
The good news for Tennessee is that they’ve had Vanderbilt’s number in recent seasons. The Vols have won 10 of their last 12 matchups in the series and turned around their 2023 season by sweeping the Commodores in Knoxville.
If a super regional matchup does take place, it would be highly entertaining. Both teams have Omaha history under their current head coach. Vitello has led the Vols to Omaha three times in his seven-year tenure including the 2024 National Championship. Tom Corbin has led the Commodores to Omaha five times in his 22-year tenure including the 2014 and 2019 National Championships and runner-up finishes in 2015 and 2021.
First pitch for the weekend series is at 5:30 p.m. ET on Friday night at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. All three games this weekend are nationally televised. Game one is on SEC Network while games two and three are on ESPN2.
