Tennessee baseball has just seven games and two SEC series remaining in the regular season. Coming off a series loss against Kentucky, the Vols’ NCAA Tournament hopes are in a more shaky position than they were a week ago.
But as things currently stand, Tennessee remains on the right side of the bubble entering this weekend’s series against Texas.
D1Baseball projects Tennessee to be a three-seed in the Atlanta Regional, facing off against two-seed and No. 32 overall seed Jacksonville State in its opening NCAA Tournament game. The other teams in the Atlanta Regional include No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech and Fairleigh-Dickinson.
Twelve SEC teams are in D1Baseball’s latest field including Georgia, Kentucky, Texas, Ole Miss, Texas A&M, Arkansas, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Mississippi State and Oklahoma. Vanderbilt and LSU are both in the “four to watch” category or effectively the “next four out.”
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Baseball America has a similar draw for Tennessee as a three-seed in the Atlanta Regional. The Vols would face two-seed (No. 31 overall seed) Oklahoma State in their opening game. The other teams in the Atlanta Regional include No. 2 seed Georgia Tech and four-seed Niagara.
Twelve SEC teams are in Baseball America’s latest Field of 64 including Ole Miss, Texas, Florida, Auburn, Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi State, Arkansas, Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Texas A&M.
Tennessee currently boasts a 32-17 (11-13 SEC) record with two series remaining in the regular season. The Vols need at least 13 SEC wins to make the NCAA Tournament but 14 wins would give them much more confidence in their standing entering SEC play.
Josh Elander’s first Tennessee team currently ranks No. 35 in RPI with a 10-8 record in Quad 1 games, 1-5 record in Quad 2 games, 3-2 record in Quad 3 games and an 18-2 record in Quad 4 games.
The Vols host No. 4 Texas in a three-game series this weekend at Lindsey Nelson Stadium before heading on the road to face Oklahoma in their final series of the regular season.
