SEC Champion Tennessee set for NCAA Tournament

OMAHA, Neb. — After finishing one of the most dominant runs in Southeastern Conference history, Tennessee was selected the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA baseball tournament Monday.

The Volunteers (53-7) won 31 of their first 32 games, swept the SEC regular-season and tournament titles and have the best pitching and batting statistics in the nation.

They've been the consensus No. 1 team in the polls all but one week since March 28 and enter regionals having won eight straight and 12 of 13.

“It's really cool to win the SEC Tournament,” Vols slugger Drew Gilbert said, “but we have bigger goals in mind and know we still have a lot of baseball in front of us.”

The 64-team tournament opens Friday in 16 regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha.

The top eight national seeds are assured of hosting super regionals if they win their regionals.

The national seeds following Tennessee: Stanford (41-14), Oregon State (44-15), Virginia Tech (41-12), Texas A&M (37-18),

Miami (39-18), Oklahoma State (39-20) and East Carolina (42-18).

Stanford, which won the Pac-12 regularseason and tournament titles, is a national seed for the first time since it was No. 2 in 2018. Oregon State gives the Pac-12 two of the top three seeds for the first time.

Virginia Tech, which was picked second to last in the Atlantic Coast Conference's Coastal Division, has its highest seed in program history and will be playing in a regional for the first time since 2013.

Texas A&M won its last seven SEC series under first-year coach Jim Schlossnagle to lock up a national seed after not making the tournament last year.

East Carolina will play in the tournament for a 32nd time. The Pirates hold the distinction of having made the most appearances without reaching a CWS.

Seeds nine through 16: Texas (42-19), North Carolina (38-19), Southern Mississippi (43-16), Louisville (38-18-1), Florida (39-22), Auburn (37-19), Maryland (45-12) and Georgia Southern (40-18).

The ACC and SEC had the most teams selected, with nine apiece. The Big 12 and Pac-12 each got five teams in, and the Sun Belt Conference has four teams in the field.

Tennessee’s Blake Burke, right, takes his lead off first base during the series against Mississippi State earlier this month. The Southeastern Conference champion Volunteers at the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament which begins this weekend. (Photo by