Where Tennessee baseball landed in latest NCAA Tournament bracket projections

HOOVER, AL – Tennessee baseball’s NCAA Tournament resume is complete.

The Vols lost to Arkansas in the second round of the SEC Tournament 8-4 on May 20 at the Hoover Met, meaning their next game will come in a regional next weekend.

It was an early exit by Tennessee’s standards, just the second time since 2019 that it didn’t at least make the semifinals. But beating South Carolina in the first round ensured that No. 25 Tennessee (38-20) wouldn’t slip in its NCAA Tournament standing since a loss to No. 13 Arkansas won’t do much damage to its seeding.

Here’s how Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament resume sits after the Vols were eliminated from the SEC Tournament:

Tennessee baseball's NCAA Tournament projections

The Vols are still expected to be a No. 2 seed when the field is announced, and its overall ranking will likely stay around where it was before the SEC Tournament.

Baseball America projects Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, hosted by No. 5 overall seed North Carolina. That would be the same draw as it projected after the regular season, although it now has the Vols two spots higher as the No. 26 overall seed. No. 3 seed East Carolina and No. 4 seed Binghamton would round out that regional.

Before the SEC Tournament, D1Baseball projected Tennessee as the No. 2 seed in the Hattiesburg Regional, hosted by No. 9 overall seed Southern Miss. No. 3 seed TCU and No. 4 seed UIC were also included in that projected regional.

How Tennessee baseball’s NCAA Tournament resume changed

Tennessee is ranked No. 31 in RPI as of May 21, dropping three spots since the regular season ended. It has the No. 27 strength of schedule.

The Vols dropped to 12-11 in Quad 1 games with the loss to Arkansas and have a 2-3 record in Quad 2 and 4-4 in Quad 3. The win over South Carolina moved Tennessee to 20-2 in Quad 4.

Tennessee’s ranking in Diamond Sports Ranking (DSR), a computer metric that was approved to be used by the selection committee as an additional resource to RPI, hasn’t moved since the end of the regular season. The Vols are still No. 17 nationally, although their strength of schedule dipped slightly from No. 21 to No. 26.

Those metrics are still subject to change over the remaining few days of conference tournaments, but Tennessee won’t move much without playing.

When is the NCAA baseball selection show?

Tennessee will learn its NCAA Tournament draw on May 25 (noon, ESPN2) when the full 64-team field is announced during the selection show. Regional host sites will be announced on May 24.

Regionals will begin on May 29 or May 30 and last three days. Super regionals will be the following weekend from May 29-June 1, hosted by the higher seed.

The College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, will begin on June 12 with the best-of-three finals set for June 20-22.

Emmett Siegel covers Tennessee baseball for Knox News. Email: emmett.siegel@knoxnews.com; X: @EmmettSiegel_

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: How Tennessee baseball's NCAA Tournament resume changed after SEC Tournament