The Tennessee Volunteers men’s baseball team announced on May 18 that it will begin play in the 2026 Southeastern Conference Baseball Tournament against South Carolina on Tuesday evening at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Alabama.
This matchup is significant as Tennessee enters the tournament as the No. 10 seed, following a regular season where it finished with a 15-15 record in conference play. The Volunteers recently secured back-to-back series wins over Texas and Oklahoma to close out their schedule. The game marks the first time since South Carolina joined the SEC in 1992 that these two teams did not meet during regular season play.
The opening round game will be broadcast on SEC Network, with Neal and Cormier providing commentary. Fans can also listen to John Wilkerson call the action for Vol Network or access free audio streams through UTSports.com, the Tennessee Athletics App, and Varsity App.
Tennessee has found notable success at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium this decade, compiling a 15-6 record at the event since 2021 and advancing to Sunday’s championship game three times in five seasons while winning two tournament titles during that span (2022, 2024). Prior to this period, Tennessee had made only four tournament appearances since 2008 and had not won a game there since 2007.
Three players received postseason honors from the SEC: Tegan Kuhns was named an All-SEC second team starting pitcher after finishing with a strong strikeout-to-walk ratio and ranking among league leaders in several pitching categories; Trent Grindlinger (designated hitter) and Cam Appenzeller (left-handed reliever) were selected for the All-Freshman Team. Appenzeller is scheduled to start Tuesday’s opening round game.
Offensively, Tennessee has increased its production late in the season by averaging more runs per game and hitting more home runs over its last fifteen conference games compared to earlier matchups. After concluding their run at Hoover, Tennessee will await its NCAA Tournament draw.
