Though things didn’t look all that great following Thursday, Tennessee found a way to battle back and take a series win over Alabama during a Friday double-header last week. The Volunteers left no doubt, winning 10-0 and 11-4 over the Crimson Tide, pushing their SEC record to 10-11. They move to 23-9 at home on the year.
Tennessee now sits 31st in RPI with an 8-6 mark in Quad 1 matchups. They’ll have a chance to improve that down the stretch.
Just three weeks ago, Josh Elander’s first-year squad looked
to be in some real trouble in terms of making the NCAA Tournament. Now? Tennessee is solidly in the field, moving into 2-seed status. The Volunteers have been projected by two different outlets to land as a No. 2 seed in Chapel Hill this week.
USA Today: No. 2 seed in Chapel Hill Regional (N0. 5 North Carolina), Tennessee lands as the projected No. 28 national seed.
Baseball America: No. 2 seed in Chapel Hill Regional (No. 4 North Carolina), Tennessee lands as the projected No. 29 national seed.
Baseball America highlighted Tennessee, noting their move up the projection board.
“Tennessee has played its way back into two-seed territory after spending weeks on the wrong side of the bubble. The Volunteers are up to No. 29 in RPI after taking two of three against Alabama two weeks after a sweep of Mississippi State in Starkville. Their closing stretch—Kentucky, Texas and Oklahoma—will provide a clear test. A steady finish should secure favorable seeding, and at this point, it would take a significant collapse for Tennessee to fall out of the field.” — Baseball America
Tennessee hosts West Georgia tonight in Knoxville before hitting the road after a two-week home stand. The Volunteers will then take the short trip north to Lexington this weekend to face an increasingly desperate Kentucky team, which is fighting for its NCAA Tournament lives at the moment. Tennessee will close the regular season with series against Texas and Oklahoma after that.
