Tennessee baseball maintains grip on top spot in polls as race for SEC title hits final stretch
The Tennessee Vols managed to live up to its top ranking over the weekend. The Vols topped Vanderbilt on Friday and Saturday in Nashville 8-4 and 7-6 to claim the series before falling 3-0 on Sunday. That was good enough to hold onto the number one spot in new polls by D1 Baseball, Baseball America, […]
The Tennessee Vols managed to live up to its top ranking over the weekend. The Vols topped Vanderbilt on Friday and Saturday in Nashville 8-4 and 7-6 to claim the series before falling 3-0 on Sunday.
That was good enough to hold onto the number one spot in new polls by D1 Baseball, Baseball America, and Perfect Game on Monday morning.
The Kentucky Wildcats managed to secure the #2 ranking in all three polls. The Wildcats took 2 out of 3 against the Florida Gators in Gainesville over the weekend.
That series had quite a bit of meaning for Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Arkansas Razorbacks. Kentucky maintains a one-game lead over the Vols in the SEC East with a 20-7 SEC record. Arkansas has the same SEC mark as Tennessee at 19-8, which puts them two games clear of Texas A&M for the top seed in the West. As such, seeding for Hoover is still in play. Tennessee finished with South Carolina at home. Kentucky hosts Vanderbilt. Arkansas goes to Texas A&M.
However, there's a lot more at stake. The SEC this year has been absolutely filthy-tough. Tennessee, Kentucky, and Arkansas are all basically locks to earn national seeds in the NCAA tournament. Two more: Texas A&M and Georgia, are also very much in the mix, currently slotting inside the top 10 in all polls.
That of course doesn't even include Florida and LSU, last year's national championship game participants. Both are having down years, but part of that speaks to the absolute nastiness the SEC has been this year. Vanderbilt is also on the tournament bubble.
As such, finishing at the top of this gauntlet would be a big feather in the cap of one of these schools when seeding comes into play. If the Vols can claim their ninth straight SEC series win against a solid Gamecocks squad over the weekend and can grab that top spot in the SEC, then the Vols could be that much closer to the top overall seed in the tournament once the seeding is announced on Monday, May 27.
National media outlet gives the last laugh to former Tennessee Vols standout Dalton Knecht over Zach Edey
The former Tennessee standout should be laughing all the way to the bank
