The NCAA revealed the 16 host sites for the NCAA Baseball Tournament on Sunday evening. For the first time since the 2019 tournament, the Vols will not host a regional.
All 16 host sites are listed below. The order will be determined on Monday.
Alabama (Tuscaloosa, AL)
Arkansas (Fayetteville, AR)
Auburn (Auburn, AL)
Clemson (Clemson, SC)
Coastal Carolina (Conway, SC)
Florida (Gainesville, FL)
Indiana State (Terrre Haute, IN)
Kentucky (Lexington, KY)
LSU (Baton Rouge, LA)
Miami (Coral Gables, FL)
Oklahoma State (Stillwater, OK)
South Carolina (Columbia, SC)
Stanford (Stanford, CA)
Vanderbilt (Nashville, TN)
Virginia (Charlottesville, VA)
Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, NC)
The Vols could have potentially played their way into hosting an NCAA Regional this week in the SEC Baseball Tournament, but Tennessee lost in round one.
Finishing the regular season with a 16-14 record, Tennessee was in a log jam of five SEC teams (Tennessee, Kentucky, Auburn, Alabama and South Carolina) that were on the bubble in terms of hosting. Without a strong RPI ranking, the Vols needed a pair of wins or an Alabama first-round loss to have a chance.
Neither happened, as Tennessee lost their single elimination game to Texas A&M, and Alabama made a run to the fourth round of the tournament.
As previously mentioned, it’s been awhile since Tennessee has not hosted a regional. Furthermore, unless there is an upset in Tennessee’s corresponding region, this will be the first time since the 2019 the Vols will not host a super regional.
Tennessee will learn their seed in the Field of 64 on Monday around midday. Latest D1 Baseball projections have slotted the Vols as a No. 2 seed in the Terre Haute, Indiana region with Indiana State as the host team.
More From RTI: Where Tennessee Baseball Stands in Final Field of 64 Projections
While Knoxville was not selected as a host site, a record eight SEC teams earned a top-16 seed. Going into the SEC Tournament, nine teams had a chance to host, including Tennessee.
Of those nine, Tennessee is the only one to be left out. Kentucky was the only other team to lose in the opening round of the SEC Tournament, but the Wildcats had an incredibly high RPI. Had the Vols escaped the single elimination matchup against the Aggies, Tennessee would’ve had a much better chance at playing at home this weekend.
South Carolina is the biggest surprise of the 16 host spots. The Gamecocks struggled mightily late in the regular season, losing four consecutive SEC series. Additionally, the Gamecocks won just one game in Hoover. But South Carolina was rewarded for their early-season dominance and will be playing at home this weekend.
While Tennessee will not know what town they will be heading to this weekend until Monday at Noon ET, it will likely be one of the lower-seeded host spots, such as Indiana State, Oklahoma State or South Carolina.
