Vanderbilt baseball is projected as a regional host and on the border of a top-eight national seed in the latest NCAA tournament projections.
The Commodores (32-13, 12-9 SEC) have a complicated resume. Vanderbilt is No. 3 in RPI and strength of schedule. It has 11 Quadrant 1 wins, tied for third in the country, and only one bad loss. The Commodores have performed well against other projected tournament teams. They swept Georgia, Florida, Xavier and Texas A&M and have single wins over UCLA and UC Irvine.
However, it remains to be seen whether Vanderbilt can win enough SEC games. Typically, at least 16 SEC wins are required to host and 17 wins to be a national seed. The Commodores have remaining home series against Alabama and Kentucky and a road series against Tennessee.
Vanderbilt’s series with Alabama (35-10, 12-9) begins May 2 (6 p.m. CT, SEC Network+) at Hawkins Field.
At least one outlet feels that the national seed discussion could come down to Vanderbilt or the Vols: Baseball America listed the Commodores as the projected No. 8 seed and Tennessee as the No. 9 seed, with the two potentially facing off in a super regional.
In baseball, the 16 host teams are selected and seeded, with other teams being given a No. 2, 3 or 4 seed. However, non-host teams are not individually seeded and are instead assigned to regionals based on geography, with matchups between teams in the same conference avoided.
Here’s what the projections say:
Vanderbilt baseball NCAA tournament bracket projections
D1Baseball: No. 9 seed, hosting Louisville, East Tennessee State and Missouri State
Baseball America: No. 8 seed, hosting Georgia Tech, East Tennessee State and Fresno State
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X, formerly Twitter, @aria_gerson.
