NCAA Baseball Tournament Knoxville Regional Players to Watch

Here are two players to watch from each team competing in the NCAA Baseball Tournament Knoxville Regional with Tennessee, Southern Miss, Indiana and Northern Kentucky.

Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor celebrates a home run. / Maddi Sponsel/Indiana Athletics

Tennessee (50-11) earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Baseball Tournament, so the Volunteers will host regional play from Friday through Sunday at Lindsey Nelson Stadium in Knoxville, Tenn.

Southern Miss (41-18) won the Sun Belt Conference and received the No. 2 seed in this regional, setting up a Friday matchup against No. 3 seed Indiana (32-24-1). The Hoosiers finished third in the Big Ten regular season standings and reached the Big Ten Tournament semifinals. Northern Kentucky drew the No. 4 seed in this regional, following a 35-22 season with a Horizon League title.

Here are two players from each team to watch during the Knoxville Regional.

Christian Moore, Tennessee

Moore, Tennessee's leadoff hitter and second baseman, became the program's all-time leader in career home runs with 55. He's hit 28 home runs this season alone, and he leads a deadly Tennessee lineup with a .382 batting average and a 1.236 OPS. Tennessee certainly has other players capable of leading the Volunteers to victory – they're the No. 1 overall seed for a reason – but opposing pitchers must be careful against Moore this weekend.

AJ Causey, Tennessee

Facing Causey is a unique experience for most opposing hitters. The 6-foot-3 right-handed pitcher throws from a low arm slot, and he's able to generate significant movement on his pitches. Across 74.2 innings, he has a 4.10 ERA and an impressive 100 strikeouts – 25 more than any other Tennessee pitcher.

Slade Wilks, Southern Miss

Wilks is the designated hitter for Southern Miss, and he's been its top producer in the three hole. The 6-foot-2 lefty leads the team with 14 home runs and a 1.009 OPS. He's been especially hot lately, batting .442 with 19 RBI and four home runs.

Billy Oldham, Southern Miss

Oldham is Souther Miss' best starting pitcher this season, posting a 3.97 ERA and a 1.10 WHIP across 90.2 innings. Opponents are batting just .219 against Oldham, who has 96 strikeouts to just 26 walks. He was great in the Sun Belt Tournament opener, throwing seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts and just one hit allowed.

Devin Taylor, Indiana

Taylor is tied for the Big Ten lead in home runs with 18, and the sophomore has made the All-Big Ten first team in both seasons at the college level. He also leads Indiana with a .352 batting average, 148 total bases, 1.090 OPS. Taylor went on an absolute tear to end the season, hitting 10 home runs in his final 15 games.

Connor Foley, Indiana

Foley has posted a .155 batting average against this season, which is at least .048 lower than any Indiana pitcher with at least 10 innings this season. The 6-foot-5 sophomore right-handed pitcher can touch 98 miles per hour on his fastball at his best, and he has 80 strikeouts in 60.2 innings with a 3.71 ERA.

Liam McFadden-Ackman, Northern Kentucky

McFadden-Ackman's ranks 32nd in the nation with 21 home runs, and he's 11th with 76 RBI. The right-handed first baseman's batting averagee was above .400 entering May before it dipped to .362 heading into the NCAA Tournament. Still, he has an impressive 1.222 OPS.

Treyvin Moss, Northern Kentucky

Moss, Northern Kentucky's right fielder, has an incredible 24 RBI in the last eight games. He also ranks 13th in the nation with 92 hits, good for a .388 batting average which ranks 29th. Moss has struck out just 20 times in 237 at-bats, the fewest strikeouts among any player in the Knoxville Regional with at least 150 at-bats.

Here's the full weekend schedule.

Friday, May 31

Game 1: Indiana vs. Southern Miss at 1 p.m. on ESPN-plus
Game 2: No. 1 overall seed Tennessee vs. Northern Kentucky at 7 p.m. on SEC Network

Saturday, June 1

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 at Noon, TV TBA
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 at 6 p.m., TV TBA

Sunday, June 2

Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 at Noon, TV TBA
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 at 6 p.m., TV TBA