Tennessee Vols maintain top spot in baseball polls as postseason play gets underway

The Tennessee Vols will stay on top of the pile for one more week on the heels of a tremendous performance last week. The Vols kept their grip on the #1 spot in all of the polls after sweeping the South Carolina Gamecocks in Knoxville over the weekend. The Vols also shut out Belmont 10-0 […]

Craig Smith — College Football & NFL Trending News Writer

May 20, 2024 10:41 AM EDT

The Tennessee baseball team celebrates becoming the regular season champions in the SEC after a NCAA baseball game at Lindsey Nelson Stadium on Saturday, May 18, 2024. Tennessee won 4-1 against South Carolina. Angelina Alcantar/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Tennessee Vols will stay on top of the pile for one more week on the heels of a tremendous performance last week.

The Vols kept their grip on the #1 spot in all of the polls after sweeping the South Carolina Gamecocks in Knoxville over the weekend. The Vols also shut out Belmont 10-0 on Tuesday night.

? D1Baseball Top 25 Rankings: Week 14
(Presented by @NettingPros)@Vol_Baseball claimed a share of the @SEC regular-season title and heads into conference tournament week ranked No. 1 in the D1Baseball Top 25. https://t.co/CeOj0Fvow2
— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) May 20, 2024

?UPDATED Top 25?

– @Vol_Baseball remains No. 1
– No teams dropped out of the Top 25https://t.co/4zBKndZXk2 pic.twitter.com/lC4p0q6Rxl
— Baseball America (@BaseballAmerica) May 20, 2024

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— Perfect Game USA (@PerfectGameUSA) May 20, 2024

Right behind Tennessee is Kentucky in all three polls at #2. The Wildcats managed to take two out of three games over the weekend against Vanderbilt, but it was their loss to the Commodores in the regular season finale on Saturday that opened the door for the Vols to claim a share of the SEC tournament and rip the SEC tourney top seed away from the Wildcats. Tennessee did just that with a 4-1 win to secure their second SEC regular season title in three years.

Now, sights turn towards the SEC tournament and seeding for the NCAA tournament, which will be announced in exactly one week. The Vols open play in Hoover on Wednesday against the winner of the matchup between Vanderbilt and Florida.

As of now, the Vols sit in a great place to earn the NCAA tournament's top seed, something the Vols did two years ago before ultimately losing to Notre Dame in the Super Regionals. However, what happened two years ago has no bearing on what can or will happen this year.

It's always nice to see the number one next to Tennessee's name. We'll see next week on Selection Monday if that's the case for the tournament that matters the most.