Tennessee earned the top seed in the upcoming SEC Baseball tournament by clinching a share of the SEC regular-season championship on the final day of the season with a win over No. 24 South Carolina and a Kentucky loss to Vanderbilt. The Vols won nine straight SEC series en route to the conference co-championship.
Tennessee leads a group of four teams with a bye on the first day of the tournament, including 2-seed Arkansas, 3-seed Kentucky, and 4-seed Texas A&M. The tournament will kick off with four games on Tuesday including Georgia-LSU, Alabama-South Carolina, Vanderbilt-Florida, and Mississippi State-Ole Miss.
The 1-seed Vols will take on the winner of the game between No. 8 Vanderbilt and No. 9 Florida on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. ET. Tennessee is in the bottom half of the bracket, matched up with 2-seed Texas A&M and the winner of No. 5 Mississippi State and No. 12 Ole Miss.
Vanderbilt and Florida represent the second-to-last and third-to-last teams that Tennessee played in SEC series this weekend, so there will definitely be familiarity between both sides no matter who the Vols’ first-round opponent is.
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Tennessee played Florida in Gainesville on the first weekend of May in a unique doubleheader setup due to weather conditions in the Thursday night game. The Vols came out on top in the first nine-inning stretch in a 6-2 win but fell to the Gators 4-3 in the next nine that same day. With a rubber match on the line in a Saturday game under the stadium lights, Tennessee’s offense exploded to drop the hammer with a 16-3 beatdown to win the series.
Tennessee scored 25 runs and allowed nine runs in the three-game stretch in Gainesville.
Tennessee vs Florida (Gainesville)
- May 3 – Tennessee 6, Florida 2
- May 3 – Florida 4, Tennessee 3
- May 4 – Tennessee 16, Florida 3
The Vols returned home for a quick 6-3 midweek win over Queens before heading back out on the road to play Vanderbilt.
Tennessee used a five-run eighth inning to power past the Commodores in a comeback win in the Friday night game and then secured their eighth-straight SEC series victory with a 7-6 win over Vanderbilt on Saturday afternoon. The Vols fell to the Commodores 3-0 in the series finale, barely outscoring Vanderbilt 15-13 over the three-game stretch – but still good enough for a series win.
Tennessee vs Vanderbilt (Nashville)
- May 10 – Tennessee 8, Vanderbilt 4
- May 11 – Tennessee 7, Vanderbilt 6
- May 12 – Vanderbilt 3, Tennessee 0
The other three teams in Tennessee’s lower bracket present a bit more of an unfamiliar challenge. The Vols have not played Mississippi State or Texas A&M this season but did win two of three against Ole Miss in Knoxville in the second SEC series of the season. The Vols outscored the Rebels 35-15 over the three-game stretch with two run-rule games to bookend the series.
No. 1 Tennessee will take on the winner of No. 8 Vanderbilt and No. 9 Florida on Wednesday afternoon at 5:30 p.m. ET. The tournament will be played in Hoover, AL, and can be seen on the SEC Network with the championship game taking place on ESPN2.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for live coverage from the 2024 SEC Baseball tournament.
🚨 The Bracket.
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— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) May 19, 2024
