Baseball America updates Tennessee's NCAA Tournament projection after series win vs. Texas

Tennessee baseball taking two of three games from No. 4 Texas over the weekend has the Vols in the NCAA Tournament field according to the latest update from Baseball America. 

On Tuesday Baseball America had Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, along with No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 UCF and No. 4 Campbell.

Tennessee (34-18, 13-14 SEC) hosts Belmont on Tuesday then closes the regular-season schedule at Oklahoma with a three-game series beginning Thursday. 

The Vols are No. 31 in the RPI after the series win over Texas. The Vols are No. 17 in DSR and No. 21 in KPI.

“The Volunteers secured one of the biggest resume boosts in the country, taking two of three from then-No. 3 Texas in a massive Quad 1 series win to reach 13 SEC victories on the season,” Baseball America wrote. 

“At this point, it feels overly conservative to place Tennessee in the ‘should be in’ category. Fringe top-30 RPIs paired with 13 SEC wins — Tennessee sat No. 31 as of May 11 — simply do not miss the field anymore.”

Baseball America has 12 SEC teams in NCAA Tournament

Baseball America has 12 teams currently projected to make the NCAA Tournament: Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Texas and Texas A&M are in the field safely.

Kentucky joined Tennessee in the “should be in” category and Vanderbilt was the lone team listed in the “work to do” category. 

The Vols beat Texas 5-1 on Friday night behind 15 strikeouts from Tegan Kuhns. They then rallied from an early 3-0 deficit to win 14-9 on Saturday, before losing Sunday’s season finale.

Tennessee has been to six straight NCAA Tournaments

Last season the Vols hosted the Knoxville Regional, beating No. 4 Miami, No. 3 Cincinnati and No. 2 Wake Forest to advance to the Super Regional round, where they were swept by Arkansas. 

Tennessee has been to six straight NCAA Tournaments dating back to 2019, when Tony Vitello had the Vols back in the postseason for the first time since 2005.

The program won its first national championship in 2024, went to the College World Series three times in four years and advanced to the super regional round two other times. 

Tennessee beat Texas A&M in three games in the championship series in 2024 to win the title. The Vols were sent home by LSU in Omaha in 2023 and lost to Virginia and Texas during a two-and-done stay at the CWS in 2021. 

North Carolina ended Tennessee’s season in 2019 in the Chapel Hill Regional and Notre Dame upset the top-seeded Vols in the 2022 Knoxville Super Regional.