Postseason baseball is returning to Lindsey Nelson Stadium. Tennessee will host the Knoxville Regional for the fourth time in the last five years.
The NCAA Tournament selection committee chose Tennessee as one of the 16 regional host sites on Sunday night. They will release the entire bracket at noon ET on Monday. ESPN2 is broadcasting the selection show.
Tennessee enters the NCAA Tournament with a 43-16 (16-14 SEC) record. The Vols entered the conference tournament on the wrong side of the hosting bubble after dropping two out of three games in their final five series to end the regular season.
But the Vols’ turned in a strong week at the SEC Tournament, knocking off Alabama 15-10 in their first game of the week and SEC Regular-Season Champion Texas 7-5 in extra innings in the quarterfinals. Tennessee’s run in Hoover came to a disappointing end on Saturday afternoon with a 10-0 run-rule loss against rival Vanderbilt.
Tennessee winning two out of three games at the SEC Tournament made it a good week for the Vols despite the bitter loss to end the week. Those two strong wins were enough for Tennessee to earn a regional host spot.
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Entering Sunday’s conference championship games, D1Baseball projected Tennessee to earn the No. 14 overall seed, hosting two-seed West Virginia, three-seed Western Kentucky and four-seed Miami (Ohio). Baseball America projected Tennessee to be the No. 13 overall seed, hosting two-seed Kansas, three-seed ETSU and four-seed Binghampton in the Knoxville Regional.
Tennessee has hosted a regional three times previously under Tony Vitello, going 9-0 to sweep its way to a super regional in 2021, 22 and 24. The Vols were a top five overall seed all three years including the No. 1 overall seed twice.
This time, Tennessee is unlikely to be a top eight national seed. If the Vols get past the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament, they’ll likely have to go on the road for a super regional.
The Vols are the reigning national champions and are looking to defend their title. That’s been a tough task for reigning national champions in recent years— LSU lost in a road regional last season with Ole Miss and Mississippi State failing to make the NCAA Tournament the two years prior.
Tennessee is looking to make it to a super regional for the fifth straight time and to the College World Series for the third straight season.
