Tennessee baseball is back in the NCAA Tournament for the sixth straight season under head coach Tony Vitello. The Vols landed as the No. 14 overall seed in the tournament and will host the Knoxville Regional this coming weekend for the second straight season.
Tennessee will welcome two-seed Wake Forest, three-seed Cincinnati and four-seed Miami (Ohio) in the Knoxville Regional as the Vols begin their national title defense.
The Knoxville Regional is matched up No. 3 overall seed Arkansas and the Fayetteville Regional. That means that if Tennessee and Arkansas get past the opening weekend of the NCAA Tournament then the Vols will travel to Fayetteville for a super regional series.
The Vols played a three-game set in Fayetteville just two weeks ago, dropping two of three games to conclude the regular season.
If Tennessee wins the Knoxville Regional and anyone other than Arkansas wins the Fayetteville Regional, the Vols will host a super regional in Knoxville for the second straight season.
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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.
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.
Vitello’s squad is looking to defend their national championship from a season ago as Tennessee combined to post a 10-2 record in the NCAA Tournament and defeat Texas A&M to win the program’s first national championship. Title defense has been a major challenge in recent seasons. In fact, Tennessee is the first national champion since COVID to host a regional the ensuing season. Both Mississippi State and Ole Miss missed the NCAA Tournament the season after their titles while LSU lost in the Chapel Hill Regional final a season ago.
The full schedule for the Knoxville Regional has yet to be announced. Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider to see the schedule when the NCAA releases it later this afternoon.
