This weekend's NCAA baseball tournament super regionals will not be lacking for representation from the Chattanooga area.
Tennessee senior pitcher and former Cleveland High standout Camden Sewell, who is 7-1 this season with a 2.63 earned run average and led the Volunteers over Florida in the Southeastern Conference tournament championship game, is the most recognized area player, but Gehrig Ebel and Max Riemer have contributed as well for Virginia Tech and North Carolina as backup catchers.
Virginia Tech is hosting Oklahoma this weekend, while UNC is hosting Arkansas.
Ebel played at Baylor School and is now a Hokies sophomore, having appeared in 13 games this season with four starts. He is hitting .167 with one home run and three RBIs, with his homer having occurred during last Saturday's 24-4 trampling of Columbia in the Blacksburg Regional.
Riemer, meanwhile, is a McCallie School alum and a redshirt junior for the Tar Heels after beginning his career at Walters State Community College in Morristown. He has appeared in 22 games this season with five starts and is hitting .192 with a double and three RBIs.
The NCAA on Tuesday announced starting times for the super regionals, which include five SEC programs - Arkansas, Auburn, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Texas A&M. Florida, LSU and Vanderbilt dropped one-run elimination games Monday, so the league wasn't too far from possessing half of the remaining field.
Oklahoma and Texas, who are headed to the SEC in 2025, are among the final 16 teams.
The top-ranked Vols will host Notre Dame on Friday night (6 on ESPN2) and Saturday afternoon (2 on ESPN). Should the third best-of-three game be necessary, it would take place Sunday.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.