Tennessee baseball is back at the friendly confines of Lindsey Nelson Stadium Saturday night where they’ll face Cincinnati in a key NCAA Tournament game.
But when the umpire says “play ball” it won’t be Tennessee’s Marcus Phillips taking the mound. Instead it will be Cincinnati’s Kellen O’Connor because the Bearcats are the home team in the matchup. Why is Cincinnati the home team in a matchup against Tennessee at Lindsey Nelson Stadium?
In the NCAA Tournament, rules dictate that the team who has been the home team the least amount of times in the event is the home team for any given game. Cincinnati was the three-seed and the road team against two-seed Wake Forest while Tennessee was the one-seed and the home team against four-seed Miami (Ohio) on Friday.
That combination makes Cincinnati the home team for the winner’s bracket matchup. If both teams have been the home team the same amount of times then the team that has been the visiting team more often is the home team. If all is equal in both categories then the higher seed is the home team.
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It’s a strange and dumb rule that the SEC also adhered to in its baseball tournament until scratching it this year and making the higher seeded team the home team in every game. But the NCAA still has not changed the rule and it will prove prevalent throughout the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee is 4-0 in regional games they were the road team at Lindsey Nelson Stadium under Tony Vitello. The Vols defeated Liberty 9-3 in 2021 before defeating Campbell 12-7 in 2022. Tennessee was twice the road team in last year’s regional, defeating Indiana 12-6 and Southern Miss 12-3.
The Vols have thrice been the road team in super regional games at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, defeating LSU in 2021 and Notre Dame in 2022. Tennessee lost to Evansville as the road team at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in the super regionals a season ago.
Cincinnati defeated Wake Forest 11-6 to open the Knoxville Regional on Friday afternoon. Tennessee coasted to a 9-2 victory over Miami (Ohio) in its NCAA Tournament opening game.
First pitch between Tennessee and Cincinnati is set for 6 p.m. ET on Saturday night. Mike Monaco and Kyle Peterson are on the call for ESPN+.
