Why Tennessee baseball will – and won’t – win Knoxville NCAA Regional

Tennessee baseball learned its already certain fate Monday: The Vols are the No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program history.

The No. 1 Vols (53-7) open against No. 4 Alabama State (34-23) in the Knoxville Regional on Friday (6 p.m. ET, SEC Network). No. 2 Georgia Tech (34-22) and No. 3 Campbell (40-17) are on the opposite side of the bracket.

Tennessee, the SEC regular-season champs and SEC Tournament champions, is hosting a regional for the second straight season. It advanced to Omaha last season, reaching the College World Series for the first time since 2005.

Here is why the Vols will — and won't — reach Omaha for the second straight season.

Tennessee is the best team in college baseball

Tennessee enters the NCAA Tournament with 53 wins, the most by any SEC team in history starting the postseason. It leads the SEC in essentially all significant offensive and pitching categories, including runs, hits, RBIs, batting average, on-base percentage, ERA, opponent batting average and strikeouts.

The Vols have dominated a sport in a manner that should be impossible. They rolled through the SEC Tournament as they rolled through the SEC regular season, winning both titles with only a series loss at Kentucky as the blip on the radar.

UT has the roster — and the moxie — to win it all. Getting it done is a different story. But the conversation going in is Tennessee vs. the field. That sums up how big of favorites these Vols are.

Do not park on Todd Helton Drive

Fourteen teams in the nation have hit at least 100 homers this season. Three of them are in the Knoxville Regional.

The Vols lead the nation with 137 homers. Georgia Tech ranks fifth with 110 and Campbell is ninth with 105.

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Tennessee, Liberty, Duke and Wright State combined for 32 homers in six games in the Knoxville Regional last season.

Georgia Tech can hit, but Campbell is the threat

Georgia Tech is hitting .324 as a team and the nation's leading hitter in second baseman Chandler Simpson, who is batting .418.

But the Yellow Jackets struggle on the mound. Their four most-used starting pitchers have ERAs of more than 5.40.

Campbell features a challenging combination of pitching and hitting, including a premier arm in starting pitcher Thomas Harrington. Harrington is rated as the No. 43 prospect for the 2022 MLB Draft by MLB Pipeline. Harrington is 11-2 with a 2.21 ERA with 109 strikeouts in 85⅔ innings. The FCamels' second starter is Cade Kuehler, who has a 4-5 record with a 3.62 ERA and a .174 opponent batting average.

Campbell is hitting .298 as a team and has six players who have hit at least 10 homers.

Mike Wilson covers University of Tennessee athletics. Email him at michael.wilson@knoxnews.com and follow him on Twitter @ByMikeWilson. If you enjoy Mike’s coverage, consider a digital subscription that will allow you access to all of it.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Tennessee baseball in Knoxville NCAA Regional: why will and won’t win