Tennessee baseball coach Rod Delmonico said the Vols' resume spoke for itself.

The Division I Baseball Committee listened and awarded UT a home regional Sunday in the NCAA tournament.

First-round games in the four-team, double-elimination regional will begin Friday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium. The tournament runs through next Sunday.

The entire 64-team bracket and game times will be announced today on ESPN at 11:30 a.m.

"I think if you finish in the top three in this conference, you should host a regional," said Delmonico, whose team finished with the second-best record in the SEC. "Year in and year out, it doesn't matter who those three teams are."

The SEC ended up with four of the 16 regional host sites. LSU, Mississippi and Florida also will play at home this weekend. The schools were chosen out of a pool of about 40 applicants.

Florida State senior associate athletic director Charlie Carr, a member of the selection committee, said the Vols (41-19) deserved to "be rewarded for a successful season."

"They had a great year and stayed at the top for the whole season in the No. 1 conference in baseball," Carr said Sunday during a teleconference. "That was only one criteria. But if you've done a good job, we try to reward those teams."

There was some concern about poor attendance at Lindsey Nelson Stadium possibly preventing Tennessee from staying in home. UT ranked 11th of 12 in the SEC in home attendance, drawing an average of 1,185 fans per game.

Carr said the committee was "not at all" concerned about the Vols failing to draw well this week.

"We feel like we've had good communication with the administration there, and we're looking for a good regional," he said. "Our most over-riding factor is trying to reward success ... We're looking forward to it."

The Vols last hosted in 2001 on their way to their last appearance in the College World Series.

"I think the players deserve to play in front of their home fans," Delmonico said in a media release Sunday. "And after the great season we've had, I hope the Tennessee fans will pack the seats and be loud as we try to advance all the way back to Omaha for the College World Series."