Tennessee entered the SEC Tournament in Hoover, Alabama this week needing to make an impression.

After two games, the 8-seed Vols might have done just that.

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A 15-10 win over 9-seed Alabama and a 7-5 triumph over 1-seed Texas in 12 innings punched Tennessee’s ticket to the semifinals, and has the Vols on the host line for the postseason, according to the latest projections from D1Baseball.

After falling out of the top 16 national seeds amid five-straight SEC series losses to end the regular season, the outlet now has the Vols (43-15) making the cut as the No. 15 national seed, hosting the Knoxville Regional at Lindsey Nelson Stadium.

The regional projection, updated Friday, includes West Virginia, Miami and Miami (Ohio) and is paired with the Fayetteville Regional, hosted by No. 2 national seed Arkansas and featuring Kansas, Creighton and Arkansas-Little Rock.

The winner of the Knoxville Regional would potentially go to Fayetteville for the Super Regional and spot in the College World Series in Omaha next month.

With the addition of Tennessee, the SEC now has seven teams projected as national seeds, headed up by 1-seed Texas and followed by 2-seed Arkansas, 3-seed Vanderbilt, 5-seed LSU, 6-seed Georgia, 7-seed Auburn and now, the 15-seed Vols.

Tennessee lost six of its last seven series and went into the SEC Tournament in need of a run to bolster its resume. The Vols are now with one game of returning to the championship final for the second-straight year.

Tennessee won both the regular season and tournament titles on their way to their first-ever CWS championship last year.

The Vols, who overcame a four-run deficit to beat the Longhorns in extras Thursday, are set to face Vanderbilt (40-16) in the semifinals on Saturday at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium (1 p.m. ET, SEC Network).

It will be a rematch between the two teams after the Commodores took two of three games from Tennessee in Knoxville two weeks ago.

A win would likely further solidify the Vols' hosting spot. Tennessee is currently ranked 10th in RPI.

"It's kind of shown up a few times for our guys, when we took that trip to Houston and sometimes we take a road trip, it’s kind of a fresh start and you see a little bit of new life out of our guys," Tennessee head coach Tony Vitello told reporters Thursday. "I think it’s important for them to realize that and kind of use that to their advantage that every day can be a fresh start even if you’re in the middle of something.

"Again, it’s not about a guy clicking or other words. I think it’s just about approaching each day the way that we know best or the way that is our best version of ourselves."

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