Tennessee Baseball entered the NCAA Tournament as the favorite to win a national championship and the Vols are still the favorite entering the College World Series. DraftKings has Tennessee as the favorite at +290, ahead of Texas A&M at +330.
Kentucky has the next-best odds at +500, ahead of North Carolina at +650, Florida State at +800, North Carolina State at +900, Virginia at +1000 and Florida at +1300.
Tennessee (55-12), the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament, faces No. 8 Florida State (47-15) in the first round on Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN. The other half of Bracket 1 is No. 4 North Carolina (47-14) and No. 12 Virginia (46-15). The Tar Heels and Cavaliers play the first game in Omaha, set for 2 p.m. ET Friday on ESPN.
BetOnline has Texas A&M as the favorite to win the College World Series at 53/20 odds (+265), just ahead of Tennessee at 57/20 (+285), and also has the Vols at 13/10 (+130) to reach the championship series in Omaha. A&M is the leader there, too, at 6/5 (+120).
As for exact matchups in the finals, BetOnline has Tennessee-Texas A&M as the most likely scenario at 4/1 (+400) and Tennessee-Kentucky as the second most likely at 21/4 (+525). Other exact matchups listed involving the Vols were Tennessee-North Carolina State at 12/1 (+1200) and Tennessee-Florida at 16/1 (+1600).
Tennessee in College World Series for seventh time
The eight teams in Omaha are split into two four-team brackets in a double elimination format. The winner from each bracket meets in the best-of-three national championship series.
In Bracket 2, Kentucky (45-14) faces North Carolina State (37-21) on Saturday at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN. Texas A&M (49-13) and Florida (34-28) play at 7 p.m. ET on Saturday on ESPN.
Tennessee won two of three at Kentucky in April and two of three at Florida in May. The Vols did not play Texas A&M during the regular season, but beat the Aggies 7-4 in the SEC Tournament on May 23.
Tony Vitello has Tennessee in the College World Series for the third time in four years. The Vols are the No. 1 overall seed for the second time in three years, have won 12 straight regional games and have appeared in four straight super regionals.
Vols finished second in 1951 College World Series, tied for third in 1995
Tennessee’s best finish in the College World Series came in its first trip to Omaha. The Vols finished as the runner-up in 1951, losing to Oklahoma 3-2 in the championship game. Utah beat Tennessee 7-1 in Game 1, but the Vols won four games over the next three days to reach the title game.
The 1995 Tennessee team is the only one to win its first game at the College World Series, beating Clemson 3-1 before going on to finish tied for third.
The Vols went 0-2 in Omaha in 2021 and went 1-2 last season, losing twice to LSU and beating Stanford for its first win in a College World Series game since 2001.
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