A closer look at Tennessee Baseball's opponents in this weekend's Knoxville Regional

The NCAA Baseball Tournament is back and No. 1 Tennessee is back at home, hosting the Knoxville Regional this weekend, playing as the No. 1 overall seed in the 64-team field for the second time in three years. 

The Vols are hosting No. 2 Southern Miss, No. 3 Indiana and No. 4 Northern Kentucky at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

Indiana (32-24-1) and Southern Miss (41-18) open the Knoxville Regional at Noon Eastern Time on Friday, with the game televised by ESPN+. Tennessee (50-11) and Northern Kentucky (35-22) play at 7 p.m. ET Friday on SEC Network. 

The Game 1 and Game 2 losers will play Saturday at 12 p.m. ET and the winners will match up at 6 p.m. ET. Game 3’s winner and Game 4’s loser play Sunday at 12 p.m. ET and the Game 4 winner plays the Game 5 winner Sunday at 6 p.m. ET. Game 7 of the regional will be played on Monday, if necessary. Television designations for Saturday and Sunday are to be determined. 

Here’s a closer look at the opponents for this weekend’s Knoxville Regional:

No. 2 Southern Miss

RPI: 26

Record: 41-18 (20-10 Sun Belt)

Team ERA: 5.00

Runs Per Game: 7.06

The NCAA Tournament’s selection committee loves a storyline. The biggest one in the Knoxville Regional is Southern Miss as the No. 2 seed and making the trip to Tennessee a year removed from the Vols beating the Golden Eagles in three games in the Super Regional round at Southern Miss. Tennessee lost Game 1 in Hattiesburg last season but rallied for back-to-back wins to punch a ticket to Omaha for the College World Series.

Southern Miss finished second in the Sun Belt in the regular season, finishing three games behind Louisiana, but won four games in four days to win the conference tournament. USM beat No. 7 Coastal Carolina, No. 3 Troy, No. 6 Appalachian State and No. 5 Georgia Southern to win the Sun Belt title. 

Starting pitcher Billy Oldham and designated hitter Slade Wilks were first-team Sun Belt picks while shortstop Ozzie Pratt, outfielder Dalton McIntyre and starting pitcher Niko Mazza made the league’s second team. 

McIntyre leads the team in batting average, at .389, while Slade leads with 14 home runs 65 RBI. Oldham has a 3.97 ERA and a 7-2 record in 15 starts, pitching 90.2 innings. Mazza has started 15 games, too, with an 8-3 record and a 4.43 ERA over 81.1 innings.

Southern Miss advanced out of the Auburn Regional last season, beating Auburn, Samford and Penn (twice) after losing its opening game of the weekend against Samford. USM beat Tennessee 5-3 in Game 1 in the Hattiesburg Super Regional, but lost 8-4 in Game 2 and 5-0 in Game 3.

No. 3 Indiana

RPI: 55

Record: 32-24-1 (15-9 Big Ten)

Team ERA: 6.02

Runs Per Game: 8.12

Indiana finished in third in the Big Ten standings in the regular season, three games back of Illinois. The Hoosiers beat Purdue and Ohio State in the Big Ten Tournament, but were bounced by Nebraska, with the Cornhuskers beating Indiana twice on Saturday in the semifinal round. 

Sophomore outfielder Devin Taylor was First Team All-Big Ten for a second straight season and was one of seven Hoosiers to be named to one of the all-league teams. Taylor led Indiana with a .362 batting average, with 17 home urns, 47 RBI, 10 doubles and 61 runs scored on 77 hits. 

Connor Foley, Indiana’s 6-foot-5 sophomore right-hander, has a 3.71 ERA and a 4-1 record in 13 starts, striking out 80 over 60.2 innings pitched. Ty Bothwell has made nine starts and has a 4.90 ERA over a team-high 79.0 innings pitched this season.

The tie on Indiana’s record came on April 24, when Indiana and Ball State played 12 innings at Ball State and the game was called due to darkness with the score tied at 7-7. Ball State’s home field doesn’t have lights and it was determined a new inning couldn’t start after the 12th, after four and a half hours of baseball. 

Indiana played in the Lexington Regional last season, opening with wins over West Virginia and host Kentucky. The Hoosiers were eliminated after back-to-back losses to the Wildcats. 

No. 4 Northern Kentucky

RPI: 149

Record: 35-22 (19-11 Horizon League)

Team ERA: 7.37

Runs Per Game: 9.5

Northern Kentucky is in the NCAA Tournament after winning the Horizon League championship for the first time in program history. The Norse won three games in three days to punch their ticket, beating No. 4-seed Milwaukee 5-3, No. 1-seed Wright State 10-6 and No. 6-seed Youngstown State 23-5. 

The 23 runs scored against Youngstown State was nothing new for NKU this season. The team scored 20 against Milwaukee, 21 vs. Miami (Ohio) and 24 against Oakland. The Norse also gave up 28 runs at Missouri (including a 14-run first inning ) and 44 over two games against Mizzou, with the Tigers winning 16-15 the next day.

Northern Kentucky scored 15 or more runs in 10 games this season and gave up 15 or more runs in seven games. NKU finished fifth nationally in runs scored with 542 in 57 games, 11 runs behind fourth-place Tennessee, which has scored 553 in 61 games. 

Northern Kentucky senior first baseman Liam McFadden-Ackman was the Horizon League Player of the Year and NKU coach Dizzy Peyton shared the league’s Coach of the Year honors. McFadden-Ackman hit .375 in conference play with 33 RBI and 34 runs scored on 42 hits, including nine home runs. NKU led the Horizon League with nine all-conference players, including five first-team selections. 

Right-hander Tanner Gillis leads the pitching staff with an 8-2 record over 72.1 innings pitched, with a 4.60 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Senior righty Clay Brock is 8-3 over 77.2 innings, with a 7.07 ERA and 1.61 WHIP. Senior left-hander Ben Gerl is 5-6 in 15 starts, pitching 77.1 innings. He has a 7.68 ERA and 1.63 WHIP.