For the first time in 14 seasons the University of Tennessee has been selected to play in the NCAA baseball tournament. The announcement came early Monday afternoon, with the Volunteers earning a No. 2 seeding in the Chapel Hill Regional hosted by North Carolina.
Tennessee (38-19) will open the regional against No. 3 seed Liberty (42-19) on Friday at 7 p.m. Host North Carolina (42-17) will face UNC Wilmington (32-29). Regional play is a double-elimination format, with the winner at each of the 16 sites advancing to super regional play.
The winner of the Chapel Hill Regional will play the winner of the Atlanta Regional, which includes No. 3 overall seed Georgia Tech and Auburn, one of 10 SEC teams to receive bids into the NCAA tournament.
“If you are in, just like March Madness (in basketball), you have a chance to win the thing,” Vols second-year coach Tony Vitello told the Knoxville News Sentinel on Monday. “That is immediately where your attention and focus is drawn: How can we prepare and how do we win, and how far can we take this thing?
“The other thing is now there is something to point to for younger guys to experience it. Once our run is over, we will have a blueprint for what is out there to grab and what we need to do to make it a mainstay.”