Vols do the one thing they couldn't afford to do in Hoover
The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team did what it needed to do in Columbia, SC, winning two of three games and sending itself into the SEC baseball tournament with a slew of momentum. At 11-4 in the second half of the SEC season, UT was one of the hottest teams in the conference at the right […]
The Tennessee Volunteers baseball team did what it needed to do in Columbia, SC, winning two of three games and sending itself into the SEC baseball tournament with a slew of momentum. At 11-4 in the second half of the SEC season, UT was one of the hottest teams in the conference at the right time of the year. All they needed to do was make a decent showing in the SEC tournament in Hoover, and a regional hosting opportunity was potentially in the cards.
Just hours into the tournament, the Vols are heading back to Knoxville, likely to where they won't play another game at this season – absent some serious upsets next weekend. 7-seed UT fell to 10-seed Texas A&M on Tuesday afternoon 3-0 in a single-elimination game.
A&M's Troy Wansing threw a gem, going 8 innings and striking out seven. The lone, tiny blemish on his box score was a one-out single by Christian Scott in the 6th inning. Evan Aschenbeck worked a one-two-three 9th inning for the save.
The win was a bit of revenge for A&M and Wansing, who were swept in Knoxville in late March. Wansing was chased in an 8-7 Tennessee win after allowing 4 earned runs in 1.1 innings.
So now Tennessee will wait for selection Monday to find out where they will be headed for the NCAA tournament. The Vols were below the cut line for a projected host site coming into today, and it's hard to see how they could be above it now with the immediate tourney exit, even with the South Carolina series win.
But the news isn't all bad. With their early elimination, Tennessee will get additional rest and preparation time for the NCAA tournament.
Everybody in this league is a competitor. Everybody comes here wanting to win this thing. But there are benefits to going home early and getting some rest, too. Look at the history. This league beats you up. Some rest is good. – Tony Vitello via Wes Rucker, 247 Sports
And getting rest at home will be important, as the Vols all but know now that they're going to have to get their traveling shoes on if they're going to make a run for the biggest prize of them all.
