The Volunteers need to find a way to finish strong.
It was another tough weekend for Tennessee baseball, dropping two of three to Vanderbilt in Knoxville. The Volunteers have now dropped five out of their last six series in SEC play, limping home to the finish line with tournament play suddenly upon us.
It doesn’t get any easier this weekend either. Tennessee will head over to Arkansas for the final conference series of the year, badly needing to make something happen. Tennessee has been on the verge of dropping out of the top 16 national seeds and losing a chance to host a regional in the NCAA Tournament for a couple of weeks now. This week, one major publication did drop them out of that coveted top 16.
D1 Baseball has the Volunteers traveling to Morgantown to face the 16-seed West Virginia Mountaineers. Tennessee has been in a similar spot before, emerging out of the Clemson regional back in 2023. The Vols ended up making a run to Omaha in that season too.
Tennessee baseball NCAA Tournament projections
D1 Baseball: Morgantown (West Virginia) Regional No. 2 seed
Baseball America: No. 16 national seed, hosting UTSA, ETSU, Tennessee Tech
Tennessean: No. 16 national seed
On3 Sports: No. 15 national seed, hosting Dallas Baptist, Kansas, Tennessee Tech
Tennessee is still in control of their own destiny here. A big series win on the road at No. 8 Arkansas would seem to solidify Tennessee’s standing in that top 16. A loss might solidify their standing outside of that top 16. The Volunteers would still have a chance to make some noise in next week’s SEC Tournament, which is set to begin on Tuesday. As things currently standing heading into the weekend, Tennessee holds the No. 7 seed and would play on Wednesday. That can obviously shuffle as things play out over the next three days.
Tennessee and Arkansas will get going tonight at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN2.