Is Tennessee in 2024 College World series? Taking a closer look at Vols' NCAA baseball tournament run

The Tennessee Volunteers are going to the College World Series for the seventh time in program history. This is also a historic qualification for the Vols since it will be the first time in program history that they achieve back-to-back appearances in the College World Series. This season, the Volunteers have seen success after success after they were crowned SEC regular season champions and won the SEC tournament.

Tennessee defeated Evansville in three games during the Knoxville Super Regional to reach the College World Series. In the regional phase, they defeated Northern Kentucky, Indiana and Southern Mississippi. They come to Omaha as the No. 1 national seed and the undisputed favorites to win the natty. They defeated LSU in the SEC tournament final.

Has Tennessee ever won the College World Series?

Despite coming in as favorites to win the College World Series this year, the Tennessee Volunteers have never won the event before. The Vols have only made it to the finals once, some seven decades ago in 1951 when they fell 3-2 to Oklahoma.

Tennessee's success is a recent occurrence, with the program becoming nationally relevant in the 2020s. Before 2021, the Vols hadn't won their division since 1997. Before 2022 they hadn't won the SEC tournament since 1995.

Head coach Tony Vitello on what lies ahead for Tennessee

After beating Evansville 12-1, Tony Vitello spoke with the media about what he thinks success means and what he is expecting from the College World Series ahead:

"If you’re talking about success for this team, the one thing I stated after last season... To have fun and to be around people that want to be here and be in an environment that you’re excited to get to every day. 100% success...

"Omaha is real fun to go to. If you don’t play that well, it ain’t that fun. But I don’t really give a damn to be honest with you. As a matter of fact, we kind of can pick up where Evansville left off. We’re not supposed to win because the No. 1 never wins. So house money. I’m going to consider this even more of a success this year, but definitely because of that group in particular being the way they are."

So far things have gone Tennessee's way, but there's been a couple of scary moments, including the loss to Evansville in Game 2 of the Knoxville Super Regional and falling to the losing side of the bracket in the SEC tournament after the loss to Vanderbilt. These kinds of slipups aren't allowed as they move forward.

Can the Volunteers get to the promised land?