Tennessee set a program record Monday afternoon when the Volunteers were selected to their seventh consecutive NCAA baseball tournament.
The Vols (38-20) were seeded No. 28 overall, and they were seeded second in the Chapel Hill Regional behind North Carolina (45-11-1) and ahead of third-seeded East Carolina (36-22-1) and fourth-seeded VCU (37-23). Tennessee will open at noon Friday against East Carolina, with the matchup to be televised by ESPNU, while the Tar Heels will face the Rams at 5 on the ESPN+ streaming option.
This is the 16th NCAA tournament overall for Tennessee, which won the 2024 national championship, while ECU is in the tourney for the 36th occasion but is still seeking its first trip to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. North Carolina, the No. 5 seed overall, is a top-eight national seed for the 11th time and defeated Tennessee to win the 2019 Chapel Hill Regional.
UCLA (51-6) and Georgia Tech (48-9) were the top two overall seeds, with the Southeastern Conference accounting for five of the top eight with No. 3 Georgia (46-12), No. 4 Auburn (38-19), No. 6 Texas (40-13), No. 7 Alabama (37-19) and No. 8 Florida (39-19). The SEC also provided seven of the 16 regional hosts, with Texas A&M (39-14) the No. 12 seed and Mississippi State (40-17) the No. 14 seed.
Georgia received its highest NCAA tournament seed in program history after cruising to the SEC’s regular-season championship and winning its first SEC tournament title, while Mississippi State’s success can largely be attributed to sophomore pitcher and former Baylor School standout Tomas Valincius, who is 10-2 through 15 starts with a 2.93 earned run average.