Where Tennessee Baseball Is Projected In NCAA Tournament A Day Before Selection Show | Rocky Top Insider

Tennessee baseball is a day away from learning its draw for the 2026 NCAA Tournament. The Vols are squarely in the field of 64 but will not host this season meaning the tournament committee will send Tennessee on the road.

There’s still a few remaining conference championship games on Sunday afternoon, but both D1Baseball and Baseball America have released their penultimate bracket projections for the NCAA Tournament. Where do the Vols project to land?

D1Baseball projects Tennessee as a two-seed (No. 24 overall seed) in the Hattiesburg Regional where they are matched up with No. 9 overall seed Southern Miss, NC State and Illinois-Chicago. The Vols have plenty of postseason history against Southern Miss. They defeated the Golden Eagles in the 2023 Hattiesburg Super Regional and in the 2024 Knoxville Regional.

If the Vols pull the upset in the Hattiesburg Regional they would match up against the winner of the Gainesville Regional including Florida, Arizona State, USC Upstate and VCU.

Twelve SEC teams are in the D1Baseball projection including Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

Baseball America projects Tennessee as a two-seed (No. 29 overall seed) in the Chapel Hill Regional where they are matched with No. 4 overall seed North Carolina. Other teams in the Chapel Hill Regional include Mercer and Binghamton. Tennessee also has postseason history with North Carolina, losing in the 2019 Chapel Hill Regional.

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If the Vols pull the upset in the Chapel Hill Regional they would matchup up against the winner of the Lincoln Regional including Nebraska, Ole Miss, Eastern Illinois and Illinois-Chicago.

Twelve SEC teams are in the Baseball America projection including Arkansas, Georgia, Ole Miss, Auburn, Mississippi State, Texas, Kentucky, Alabama, Florida, Texas A&M and Oklahoma.

In past years, the NCAA seeded only the top 16 teams of the tournament. But this year, they are seeding the top 32 teams. While the selection committee does not have to create direct matches (No. 1 overall seed with No. 32 overall seed) they have to create relative matches.

That means that teams seeded No. 1 through No. 4 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 29 through No. 32. Teams seeded No. 5 through No. 8 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 25 through No. 28. Teams seeded No. 9 through No. 12 have to be paired with someone seeded No. 21 through No. 24. And lastly, teams seeded No. 13 through No. 16 have to be paired with teams seeded No. 17 through No. 20.

Tennessee baseball enters the NCAA Tournament boasting a 38-20 (15-15 SEC) record. The Vols struggled out the gats of SEC play, starting 4-8 in their first four series. But starting with a sweep of Mississippi State, the Vols went 11-7 over the next six weeks.

Josh Elander’s first Tennessee team won five of its 10 SEC series. They swept Mississippi State while Vanderbilt swept them. The Vols remained .500 in SEC play by going 1-1 at this week’s SEC Tournament.