Tennessee Baseball Sheltering From Weather Under Bleachers Sparks More Contention Over Southern Miss As Super Regional Host

Southern Miss and Tennessee both entered the NCAA Tournament as the No. 2 seed in their respective Regionals. Only one was offered the chance to host a Super Regional, and the NCAA's decision created a lot of controversy.

Frustration amongst the fanbases was only escalated further on Saturday.

Southern Miss fans point and thumbs down a Tennessee fan during a NCAA baseball super regional game held at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Saturday, June 10, 2023.(© Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)

Tennessee was the No. 2 seed in the Clemson Regional and won. Southern Miss was the No. 2 seed in the Auburn Regional and won.

The Clemson Regional and Auburn Regional were paired together for the Super Regional. Whichever team wins the Super Regional will advance to the College World Series.

Thus, hosting a Super Regional and playing in front of a home crowd and using home facilities is obviously a big advantage. Typically, it is the higher seed that hosts.

If a No. 1 seed advances out of one Regional and the No. 2 seed advances from the other, the No. 1 seed would host. But what happens if two equal seeds advance?

That is what we found out last week.

Since there is no true seeding of two-seeds, it would largely just be looking at the merits of the two bids (venue, hotels, guarantees, etc.). But it would be fully a committee decision.

By nearly every comparable metric used by the NCAA baseball tournament selection committee, the Volunteers were ahead of the Golden Eagles coming out of the Regional weekend. If it was a matter of "the better team" hosting, the Super Regional would have been played in Knoxville.

Instead, the selection committee landed on Hattiesburg.

Tennessee fans were furious with the decision.

There was a lot of contention between Tony Vitello's team and the rest of the NCAA last season with how loud they played. Their on-field antics and animated attitudes ruffled a lot of feathers.

Did a bias factor into the decision to sent Tennessee to Mississippi? Who knows.

Either way, Southern Miss was given the opportunity to host a Super Regional. The Vols were forced to play on the road.

Although they didn't play much on Saturday.

After the Golden Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead, a 1-hour, 35-minute delay started at 3:17 p.m. and ended at 4:52 p.m. Play resumed for a moment, but was halted again at 5:05 p.m.

Tennessee players sit outside their dugout after a second weather delay was announced during a NCAA baseball super regional game held at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, Miss., on Saturday, June 10, 2023.(© Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK)

The game was later postponed until Sunday.

Tennessee and Southern Miss pick Game 1 back up in the fifth inning on Sunday at noon. Once that game ends, there is a 55-minute turnaround for Game 2.

It's an unfortunate reality, but neither team can control the weather.

Southern Miss doesn't have a visiting locker room.

As the two sides waited out the weather on Saturday, the home team went back to their home locker room. Meanwhile, the visitors took shelter under the bleachers of the baseball stadium.

The Golden Eagles do not have a locker room for visiting baseball teams. There is no visitors locker room.

WITH THAT BEING SAID — Southern Miss offered up its basketball facility and locker room. Although the basketball facility is across the street, a few minutes away, the offer existed.

Tennessee declined.

The Volunteers chose not to pack up all of their stuff and move it over to the basketball locker room. It was easier to keep it all near the field under the bleachers.