Photo by Jon Anderson
The Florida Gators take on the Tennessee Volunteers in the championship game of the 2022 SEC Baseball Tournament before a crowd of 13,270 people at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama, on Sunday, May 29, 2022.
The Southeastern Conference and the city of Hoover have agreed in principle to extend the SEC Baseball Tournament at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium for at least two more years through 2024, City Administrator Allan Rice said.
The contract between Hoover and the SEC originally was set to expire in 2021, but because the tournament was canceled in 2020, the two parties agreed to keep their agreement in place through this year’s tournament.
Now, the parties have agreed to a new two-year extension through 2024, Rice said. SEC Associate Commissioner Herb Vincent said the same in a story on the SEC website.
The SEC has four years to decide whether to keep its current 12-team format for the tournament after Oklahoma and Texas join the SEC on July 1, 2025, giving the conference a total of 16 baseball teams.
This year’s tournament ended in grand fashion Sunday with 13,270 people packed into Hoover Metropolitan Stadium to see the Tennessee Volunteers take on the Florida Gators under sunny skies after many rain-delayed starts early in the week.
The Vols captured their first-ever overall conference championship with an 8-5 win over the Gators. Tennessee had won Eastern Division championships in 1993, 1994 and 1995 — all years in which there was no overall conference champion declared.
It was a sweet victory for Tennessee after losing to Arkansas 7-2 last year in the championship game, and Tennessee fans came out in droves Sunday, dominating the stands in their bright orange gear to cheer on the Vols, which came into the tournament as the No. 1 seed and the top-ranked team in the country.
Sunday’s crowd of 13,270 was the fifth-largest crowd ever for an SEC baseball title game, and it was the second-largest crowd for a title game that didn’t include Alabama, according to statistics in the SEC 2022 record book.
The largest crowds for a title game were:
- 16,165 — Alabama 9, Arkansas 3 in 1999
- 14,126 — Ole Miss 9, LSU 1 in 2018
- 13,367 — Alabama 6, South Carolina 2 in 2002
- 13,327 — LSU 4, Alabama 3 in 2010
Tennesse won all four of its games in this year’s tournament. The first was a 10-1 thrashing of Vanderbilt in the second round of play on Thursday, followed by a 5-2 victory over LSU on Friday. On Saturday, the Vols knocked Kentucky out of the tournament with a 12-2 win in the semifinals before grabbing the championship trophy with the 8-5 victory over the Gators Sunday. In all, the Vols outscored their opponents 35-10 throughout the tournament.
Tennessee outfielder Drew Gilbert was named the tournament MVP. He hit a 3-run double in the fifth inning of the championship game and later a solo home run in the ninth to add an exclamation point onto the Vols’ victory.
Tennessee pitcher Chase Dollander and third baseman Trey Lipscomb joined Gilbert on the SEC All-Tournament Team.
Florida had two players on the All-Tournament team: designated hitter Jac Caglianone and outfielder Wyatt Langford.
The All-Tournament team also included four Kentucky players: pitcher Sean Harney, catcher Devin Burkes, second baseman Daniel Harris IV and shortstop Ryan Ritter. Texas A&M first baseman Jack Moss and Alabama outfielder Caden Rose rounded out the All-Tournament team.
Editor's note: This article was updated at 10:32 am. on Friday, June 3, with confirmation from City Administrator Allan Rice about the extension.
