Tennessee baseball has just three weeks remaining in the regular season before heading to Hoover for the SEC Tournament.
Josh Elander’s first Tennessee team currently boats a 30-15 (10-11 SEC) record with three SEC series remaining. After spending much of the season on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble, the Vols sit in a strong spot to make the tournament this season.
“A steady finish should secure favorable seeding, and at this point, it would take a significant collapse for Tennessee to fall out of the field,” Baseball America’s Jacob Rudner wrote of Tennessee.
Where do the Vols land in the latest Field of 64 Projections from Baseball America and D1Baseball?
Baseball America tabs Tennessee as a two-seed and No. 29 overall seed in the Chapel Hill Regional with No. 4 overall seed North Carolina. The other teams in the Chase Hill Regional are three-seed Saint Joseph’s and four-seed Binghamton.
If Tennessee were to pull the upset in the Chapel Hill Regional, they would face the winner of Oxford Regional including 13-seed Ole Miss, Boston College, UAB and Oral Roberts.
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D1Baseball projects Tennessee as a two-seed and No. 22 overall seed in the Conway Regional. The other teams in the Conway Regional include No. 10 overall seed Coastal Carolina, three-seed Western Carolina and four-seed Campbell.
If Tennessee were to pull the upset in the Conway Regional, the Vols would face the winner of the Lawrence Regional including No. 7 seed Kansas, Virginia, Missouri State and Oral Roberts.
In last week’s Field of 64 projections, Tennessee was a three-seed according to both major outlets. But the Vols moved up to the two-line following their series victory over Alabama.
At the time of publication, Tennessee ranks No. 32 in RPI. The Vols boast an 8-6 record against Quad 1 opponents, 1-3 against Quad 2 opponents, 3-4 against Quad 3 opponents and 18-2 against Quad 4 opponents.
The Vols still have opportunities to improve their resume to close the regular season. Tennessee heads on the road to face Kentucky in a three-game series this weekend before hosting Texas in the final home series of the regular season at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The Vols conclude the regular season with a three-game series against Oklahoma in Oklahoma City.
While Tennessee has improved its chances to make the NCAA Tournament over the last three weeks, they still only have an outside chance to host a regional.
