Tennessee baseball opens up postseason play on Tuesday evening when they face off against South Carolina in the opening round of the SEC Tournament. The Vols concluded the regular season with a 37-19 (15-15 SEC) record with series victories over Missouri, Mississippi State, Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma.
Where do the Vols project to land in the NCAA Tournament ahead of this week’s SEC Tournament?
D1Baseball projects Tennessee as a two-seed (No. 24 overall seed) in the Hattiesburg Regional where they are matched up with No. 9 overall seed Southern Miss, TCU and Illinois-Chicago. The Vols have plenty of postseason history against Southern Miss. They defeated the Golden Eagles in the 2023 Hattiesburg Super Regional and in the 2024 Knoxville Regional.
If the Vols pull the upset in the Hattiesburg Regional they would match up against the winner of the College Station Regional including Texas A&M, UC Santa Barbara, UTSA and Lamar.
Twelve SEC teams are in the D1Baseball projection including Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
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Baseball America projects Tennessee as a two-seed (No. 28 overall seed) in the Chapel Hill Regional where they are matched with No. 5 overall seed North Carolina. Other teams in the Chapel Hill Regional include East Carolina and Holy Cross. Tennessee also has postseason history with North Carolina, losing in the 2019 Chapel Hill Regional.
If the Vols pull the upset in the Chapel Hill Regional they would matchup up against the winner of the Lincoln Regional including Nebraska, Cincinnati, Miami (Ohio) and Illinois-Chicago.
Twelve SEC teams are in the Baseball America projection including Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.
In past years, the NCAA seeded only the top 16 teams of the tournament. But this year, they are seeding the top 32 teams. While the selection committee does not have to create direct matches (No. 1 overall seed with No. 32 overall seed) they have to create relative matches.
That means that teams seeded No. 1 through No. 4 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 29 through No. 32. Teams seeded No. 5 through No. 8 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 25 through No. 28. Teams seeded No. 9 through No. 12 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 21 through No. 24. And lastly, teams seeded No. 13 through No. 16 have to be paired with teams seeded No. 17 through No. 20
