Tennessee baseball begins its national championship defense this week when they host the Knoxville Regional. The Vols earned the No. 14 overall seed to host a regional for the second straight season and for the fourth time in the last five years.
Two-seed Wake Forest and three-seed Cincinatti will open up play at the Knoxville Regional at 1 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon. The Vols host Miami (Ohio) in the night cap at 6 p.m. ET. Both games are streaming on ESPN+ but aren’t broadcasting on national television. Mike Monaco and Kyle Peterson are on the call for ESPN.
The Vols enter the NCAA Tournament with a 43-16 (16-14 SEC) record. They started the season red-hot, jumping out to a 28-2 overall record through the first three conference series. However, things went sideways for Tennessee in the rest of the regular season with the Vols winning just one of their final seven conference series.
But Tennessee avoided being swept in those series which proved crucial in its ability to still host a regional. The Vols were on the outside looking in of the host bubble ahead of the SEC Tournament but their 2-1 showing in Hoover, with a win over top-seeded Texas was good enough to earn Tennessee the No. 14 overall seed.
Tennessee has been highly successful in home regionals under head coach Tony Vitello. The Vols swept through the Knoxville Regional in 2021, 22 and 24 combining to post a 9-0 record. Combine that with Tennessee sweeping through the Clemson Regional in 2023 and the Vols have not lost a regional game since 2019 when they lost to North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional final.
Take a look at the full Knoxville Regional schedule here.
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Friday
Game one: Wake Forest vs. Cincinatti at 1 p.m. ET, ESPN+
Game two: Tennessee vs. Miami (Ohio) at 6 p.m. ET, ESPN+
Saturday
Game three: Loser of game one vs. loser of game two at noon ET, TBD
Game four: Winner of game one vs. winner of game two at 6 p.m. ET, TBD
Sunday
Game five: Winner of game three vs. loser of game four at noon ET, TBD
Game six: Winner of game four vs. winner of game five at 6 p.m. ET, TBD
Monday
Game seven (if needed): Rematch of game six. Time TBD. Network TBD
