Tony Vitello addresses the possibility of Tennessee Baseball being the No. 1 overall seed
It’s an unfortunate anniversary, especially for a Tennessee Baseball team that enters Monday’s release of the 64-team NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket as the projected No. 1 overall seed. It has been 25 years since that No. 1 overall seed has won a national championship, with Miami the last to do so in 1999.
“I think it’s difficult for any team to win in the NCAA Tournament,” Tennessee coach Tony Vitello said Sunday in after the Vols beat LSU 4-3 to win the SEC Tournament championship.
“And it’s also very difficult to win this (SEC) tournament because of the caliber of athlete that you’re surrounded by, and we were able to do that.”
Tennessee (50-11), which also won the SEC’s regular-season championship before winning the conference tournament, was announced Sunday night as one of the 16 host sites for regional play this week.
Tennessee was the No. 1 overall seed in the 2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament
The Vols will learn their seed and their first set of opponents at Noon Eastern Time Monday when the full bracket is released ESPN2. Regional play is made up of 16 four-team pods in a double-elimination format.
As one of the top-eight seeds, Tennessee would host both Regional and Super Regional play. The Super Regional round is a three-game series with the winners advancing to the College World Series in Omaha, where Vitello has taken the Vols twice, in 2021 and again last season.
The Vols survived double elimination in Hoover last week, coming back to win the SEC Tournament after losing their first game in the bracket, 13-4 against Vanderbilt on Wednesday. They bounced back with wins over Texas A&M and Mississippi State and won the semifinal rematch with Vandy Saturday night, before beating LSU on Sunday afternoon.
‘At least you know it will be rowdy in Lindsey Nelson Stadium’
Tennessee has won two of the last three SEC Tournaments and has played in three of the last four. The Vols beat Florida in the conference championship game in 2022.
“(Winning the SEC Tournament) should give you confidence,” Vitello said. “No one can take it away from you, but it’s time to move on to the next thing. There’s no point about talking about a Super Regional for us or any of the top eight seed because it’s all about next weekend.”
Regional play begins Friday and goes through Monday, if necessary.
Tennessee already has its named tied to the unfortunate streak for No. 1 seeds. The Vols were the No. 1 overall seed in 2022, but were stunned in three games in the Knoxville Super Regional against Notre Dame.
“We’ll be playing good teams that are capable of beating us,” Vitello said while looking ahead, “so we’ll just have to go out there and win on Friday, whoever the committee wants us to play, and then we’ll see what’s going on on Saturday afternoon.
“If anything, at least you know it will be rowdy in Lindsey Nelson Stadium.”
