Where Tennessee baseball is ranked after series win over South Carolina

No. 13 Tennessee baseball picked up a massive series win at previously-ranked No. 13 South Carolina over the weekend in Columbia.

The Vols needed the series win to end the regular season for a variety of reasons. They needed to prove they could win on the road prior to the postseason, but more importantly, they needed to continue to bolster their case to host a regional in the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Tony Vitello's club did improve their chances of hosting a regional in Knoxville. They picked up their 16th SEC win of the season and saw their RPI improve to No. 16 overall in the country.

Tennessee is still firmly in the conversation to host, but will likely need to win a couple of games at this week's SEC Baseball Tournament in Hoover, Alabama if it is going to do so.

Here's where the Vols are ranked in the six major college baseball polls as they gear up for the SEC Tournament coming off their series win over South Carolina.

Perfect Game: No. 9 (-)

USA Today Coaches Poll: No. 13 (+6)

D1Baseball.com: No. 13 (+5)

National College Baseball Writers Association: No. 15 (+4)

Baseball America: No. 18 (+1)

Collegiate Baseball: No. 25 (+4)

Tennessee is the No. 7-seed in this year's SEC Baseball Tournament and will open up in Hoover on Tuesday afternoon against No. 10-seed Texas A&M at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET.

"We have here with this group a bunch of lessons learned and a lot of momentum," Vitello said. "Maybe kind of coming together in the locker room in different ways and of course in the dugout and kind of marching forward. I think the question you have to have over your head is have we played our best ball yet? And I don't think that necessarily the answer would be yes. So, kind of that momentum forward is key and obviously any win you get in this league puts you in a better position for whatever the NCAA decides to do."

Tennessee is returning to Hoover looking to defend its title after winning the SEC Tournament a season ago. It was the program's fourth SEC Tournament Championship and its first since 1995 when it knocked off Florida 8-5 in the championship game.