Tennessee Vols get good news in latest college baseball NCAA Tournament projection
The Vols’ season has turned around quickly, and their projected NCAA Tournament seeding got a big bump as a result.
The Tennessee Vols’ 2026 baseball season seemed on the verge of going off the cliff after dropping two out of three games to LSU in Knoxville. At 4-8 in SEC play, the Vols were on the verge of falling out of the NCAA Tournament picture.
But boy, how their fortunes changed in one weekend in Starkville, Mississippi.
Tennessee swept the Bulldogs, who were top 10 nationally coming into the series, to pull themselves out of a hole and back on the verge of .500 in SEC play. And they got a signature series sweep to boost their resume for the NCAA Tournament.
Speaking of that, D1 Baseball put out their latest NCAA Tournament projection for the field of 64, and Tennessee checks in as a 2 seed, but in a tough region — in Atlanta against national 2 seed Georgia Tech.
Tennessee projected as 2 seed in Atlanta (Georgia Tech) regional
As Georgia Tech is one of the top seeds, the Vols — at least in the eyes of D1 Baseball — are just barely above the cut line for the 2/3 seeds, since the weaker 2 seeds pair up with the top one seeds. Still, being on the 2 line is about as good as one could hope for Tennessee right now with the way the season had gone before last weekend.
The Vols seem to have their pitching rotation back under control, with Landon Mack, Tegan Kuhns, and Evan Blanco serving as a stable trio. Cam Appenzeller is the team’s ace in the hole out of the bullpen, giving the Vols a prime option to lock down at least one game in any given series.
Opportunities abound for Tennessee to improve their seeding as well. Home dates with Ole Miss — a 2 seed in D1’s latest projection — and Alabama — projected 12 seed nationally — are up next for the Vols. Tennessee also welcomes Texas to Knoxville in the final home series of the regular season.