Vanderbilt Settles For 2nd Seed In NCAA Tournament

Vanderbilt students gathered Monday to see where Vanderbilt would start the NCAA tournament. Credit: Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt’s baseball team may have been ranked number one for the last few weeks, but it didn’t get top billing headed into the NCAA tournament.

North Carolina ended up with the number one seed, pushing Vanderbilt to  number two after losing the SEC title to LSU on Sunday.

Second baseman Tony Kemp says being second stings a bit.

“I think everyone wants the one seed. You work hard all year and you end up being a top national seed. I think we’ve just got to be happy with that.”

It may be just as well. The Miami Hurricanes are the only top-seeded team to go on and win the national title. That was in 1999.

Vanderbilt hosts one of the four-team regional tournaments this week, with the winner headed to the super regional and then the College World Series in Omaha. The Commodores face East Tennessee State University Friday.