Tennessee Baseball has second shortest odds to win 2024 College World Series
Tennessee Baseball has the second-best odds to win the 2024 College World Series, according to odds released Monday by BetOnline. The Vols were listed at 11/2 (+550), behind only Texas A&M at 5/1.
Arkansas was third at 6/1, ahead of Oregon State and Wake Forest, both at 12/1. Clemson and Kentucky were both 14/1, Florida State was 16/1 and Georgia and North Carolina were both 18/1. Duke and East Carolina were both listed at 25/1.
No. 1 Tennessee (46-10) clinched a share off the SEC’s regular-season championship, splitting the title with Kentucky, after beating South Carolina 4-1 on Saturday afternoon at Lindsey Nelson Stadium, completing a three-game sweep of the Gamecocks.
The Vols enter the postseason riding a streak of nine straight SEC series wins. They haven’t lost back-to-back games losses at Alabama on March 16 and 17 and are 22-4 over their last 26 games, dating back to a loss at Auburn on April 5.
Vols are the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament after winning regular-season title
Tennessee is the No. 1 seed in this week’s SEC Tournament and will begin play at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex in Hoover, Ala., on Wednesday, a 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time start.
The Vols will await the winner of 8-seed Vanderbilt and 9-seed Florida, who will play in single-elimination round on Tuesday at approximately 5:30 pm Eastern Time.
Following the ‘play-in’ round on Tuesday, the next two days of the tournament that follow are a double-elimination format. It becomes single elimination on Saturday. Should Tennessee win on Wednesday and Thursday, Friday would be an off day before the semifinals on Saturday and the championship game on Sunday.
Tennessee’s NCAA Baseball postseason history under Tony Vitello
Vitello in 2019 took Tennessee back to college baseball’s postseason for the first time since 2005 with a 40-win season in just his second year on the job. The Vols were eliminated by North Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional final after wins over UNC Wilmington and Liberty.
In 2021, after the COVID pandemic cancelled the 2020 season, Tennessee won 50 games and went back to the College World Series for the first time since 2005, sweeping LSU in the Knoxville Super Regional before losing to No. 8 Virginia then No. 2 Texas in Omaha.
The Vols won 57 games in 2022 and were the No. 1 overall seed in the postseason, but were upset by Notre Dame in the Knoxville Super Regional.
Tennessee’s 44-win team last season advanced out of the Clemson Regional and won in three games in the Southern Miss Super Regional to go back to Omaha. There, the Vols lost to LSU 6-3, bounced back with a 6-4 win over Stanford but were sent home after a 5-0 loss to LSU.
