BSB PREVIEW: #20/23 Vols Set to Tackle Loaded Chapel Hill Regional

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – No. 20/23 Tennessee is participating in its seventh straight NCAA Regional this weekend as it heads to Chapel Hill, North Carolina looking to win its sixth consecutive regional title.

Widely considered one of the toughest in this year’s tournament, the Chapel Hill Regional will be hosted by the No. 5 national seed North Carolina out of the ACC. The Vols are the No. 2 seed in the regional and will open tournament play on Friday at noon ET against No. 3 seed East Carolina, who won the American Conference for the second year in a row and is making its eighth straight NCAA Regional appearance.

Rounding out the regional group is No. 4 seed VCU, who won the Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament to earn an automatic bid into the field.

NCAA CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL CENTRAL PAGE

For the most up-to-date scores, links, team info and other gameday information such as parking and tickets, visit the NCAA Chapel Hill Regional Central Page.

NCAA CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL SCHEDULE

Saturday, May 30
Game 3 – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2 | Noon ET
Game 4 – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2 | 5 p.m. ET

Sunday, May 31
Game 5 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4 | Noon ET
Game 6 – Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4 | 5 p.m. ET

Monday, June 1
Game 7 (if necessary) – Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6 | TBD

TICKET INFO

Ticket information for the 2026 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional can be found HERE.

BROADCAST INFO

TV/Stream: ESPN Family of Network / ESPN+
Talent: Mike Monaco (PxP) & Ben McDonald (Analyst)

Radio: Vol Network (FM 99.1 / AM 990) | Tennessee Athletics App | UTSports.com
Talent: John Wilkerson

NCAA TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Prior Appearances: 15 (Most Recent: 2025)
Regional Record: 36-14 (.720)
Super Regional Appearances (Record): 7 (11-6)
College World Series Appearances: 7 (1951, 1995, 2001, 2005, 2021, 2023, 2024)
National Championships: 1 (2024)

NEED TO KNOW

The Volunteers are making their seventh straight trip to an NCAA Regional, extending a program-record streak that began at the 2019 NCAA Chapel Hill Regional.
Tennessee enters this year’s tournament with a 38-20 overall record and 15-15 mark in the SEC, marking the sixth consecutive season that they have finished with a .500 or better record in conference play.
UT will look to continue its current run of success in the postseason after having won five NCAA Regional Championships in a row dating back to 2021. During that stretch, the Big Orange have lost just once in regional play and boast an impressive 15-1 record.
Since the NCAA Tournament moved to a regional format in 1975, Tennessee is 36-14 all-time in the regional round. During the tournament’s current four-team regional format that began in 1999, the Orange and White are 24-6 with seven regional titles (2001, 2005, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025).
In order for the Vols to extend their streak and win their sixth straight regional, they will have to do it away from Knoxville for just the second time in program history and join the 2023 squad that won the NCAA Clemson Regional before eventually advancing to Omaha after topping Southern Miss in the NCAA Hattiesburg Super Regional.
Head coach Josh Elander has already put together the most successful season by a first-year skipper in program history. Elander is the first and only head coach in Tennessee history to lead his team to the NCAA Tournament in his first year. He is also the only first-year head coach at UT to win 30-plus games in his debut campaign.
Tennessee has postseason history with two of the other three teams in the 2026 Chapel Hill Regional, having played both East Carolina and North Carolina in past NCAA Tournaments.
- The Vols and Pirates squared off in the 2001 Kinston Super Regional, where UT went 2-0 against host ECU to advance to the program’s third College World Series.
- Tennessee and North Carolina have met twice in the postseason with both occurrences having come since 2019. The Tar Heels defeated the Vols in the 2019 Chapel Hill Regional final with a 5-2 win before UT got the best of UNC with a 6-1 victory in the 2024 MCWS on its way to the program’s first national title.
Tennessee has been extremely successful against non-conference opponents since the start of the 2019 season, posting a 170-29 record in that span. UT is 22-4 in non-conference opponents this season.
- During their current seven-year postseason streak, the Vols are 24-7 against non-SEC foes in the NCAA Tournament.
The Vols have been one of the SEC’s most productive offensive teams down the stretch. Over its final five SEC series and the SEC Tournament, UT scored seven or more runs in 10 of its 17 games, posting an 8-2 record when doing so. The Big Orange scored 10-plus runs six times in that stretch and were a perfect 6-0 in those contests.
- Since the calendar turned to April, the Vols have really increased their power numbers, as well, hitting 67 long balls in just 29 games, an average of 2.3 per game, to go along with 60 doubles and three triples.
Entering the NCAA Tournament, Tennessee’s pitching staff ranks 12th nationally with 593 strikeouts. The Vols have struck out 10 or more batters in 38 of their 58 games this season.
- UT ranks 17th in the NCAA in strikeouts per nine innings (10.4) and seventh in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.33).
- Tennessee has nine pitchers who have racked up 25-plus strikeouts this season, led by the trio of Tegan Kuhns (100), Evan Blanco (97) and Landon Mack (77).
Tennessee ranks fifth nationally and first in the SEC in fielding percentage (.984) while having committed the fifth fewest errors (33) of any team in the country.
- After finishing last year ranked 139th nationally and 15th in the SEC with a .970 fielding percentage, the Vols are on pace to shatter the single-season program record for fielding percentage (.980 in 2022).
- Tennessee has committed one or fewer errors in 49 of its 58 games this season, including 37 contests in which it has not committed a single error.

ON DECK

Should Tennessee advance out of the Chapel Hill Regional, it would take on the winner of the College Station Regional next weekend in a best-of-three Super Regional for a spot in the Men’s College World Series.

The complete 2026 NCAA Baseball Tournament bracket can be found HERE.