Tennessee baseball’s final regular season series this weekend at Arkansas is highly significant for the Vols as they look to improve their NCAA Tournament hosting bid.
After dropping four straight series and five of its last six, Tennessee has fallen out of the top 16 teams and a regional host site according to D1Baseball’s latest bracketology report. The update has Tennessee as a two-seed in the Morgantown Regional hosted by No. 16 overall seed West Virginia.
In the projected bracket, Tennessee would face three-seed Virginia in the first game of the tournament with four-seed Holy Cross also joining the Vols in the Morgantown Regional.
The Morgantown Regional is matched up with Austin Regional setting up a potential Texas-Tennessee Super Regional series in Austin. Despite both teams being in the SEC, Tennessee and Texas have not matched up on the field this season. Entering the final week of the regular season, Texas has a two-game lead over Arkansas in the SEC Championship race.
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There’s 13 SEC teams in D1Baseball’s projected field of 64 including regional hosts Texas (No. 1), LSU (No. 2), Arkansas (No. 3), Vanderbilt (No. 5), Georgia (No. 6), Auburn (No. 7) and Alabama (No. 14).
Tennessee enters the final weekend of the regular season with a 40-13 (15-12 SEC) record and in the midst of a rough six week stretch. The Vols face No. 8 Arkansas in Fayetteville needing a series victory to feel significantly better about their hosting chances.
One win at Arkansas plus multiple wins in next week’s SEC Tournament in Hoover would give Tennessee a chance to earn a top 16 seed but a series victory this weekend is its best chance. The Vols have a strong resume but their recent struggles could cost them depending on how much weight the committee puts on recent success.
Tennessee has made the NCAA Tournament five straight times and hosted regionals in three of those years. The Vols have made the College World Series three of the last four years including a NCAA Tournament run on the road in 2023 with a regional victory at Clemson and a super regional series at Southern Miss.
Tony Vitello and the Vols are the reigning National Champions after claiming the title as the No. 1 overall seed last season.
