Here’s a quick recap of the Regionals, which saw an astounding 9 of the 16 competitions head to the “extra” game. An exciting post-season so far for sure.
These are ordered by the national seeds/regional matchups. So instead of doing them alphabetically or in order of national seed, they’re done 1-16, 8-9, etc.
Resources/links I use heavily during CWS time:
- D1baseball’s tournament central page, which has all the games in one place.
- Top 25 lists according to d1baseball, baseballamerica, and usatoday Coaches poll.
- WarrenNolan’s RPI rankings
- Full Field of 64 at d1baseball.com
- Full field of 64 with some great data points at NCAA.com
- CWS tournament resource page from NCAA.com
Quick predictions for the 16 regionals, ordered by National Seed super Regional matchup. Bold = winner
- #1 Tennessee had to dig deep to avoid going the extra game against Georgia Tech, but advanced. The regional ended up chalk, but Campbell as a #3 seed got the early upset of GaTech.
- #16 Georgia Southern was upset as expected by ACC’s Notre Dame and finished third behind them and Texas Tech in a clear indictment of the tournament seeding’s decision not to give Notre Dame the host site.
- #8 East Carolina made it to the winner’s bracket but was stretched to the extra game by Coastal Carolina, who took out UVA to make it 1-3 in the end. It didn’t matter: Coastal couldn’t repeat their magic from 2016 and lost in game 7.
- #9 Texas advanced without losing a game, but it was 4th seed Air Force who made the regional final. Bravo to the service academy for going that far and taking out a couple of baseball powerhouses.
- #5 Texas A&M takes advantage of a soft regional and advanced without losing a game.
- #12 Louisville was upset early by #3 seed Michigan, but blew them out 20-1 to force the Monday game 7, where they held on for an 11-9 win.
- #4 Virginia Tech cruised through its regional, taking out #3 Ivy winner Columbia in the final.
- #13 Florida came back from a game down to force the Monday finisher with Oklahoma, while local team Liberty goes two-and-out. In game 7, Oklahoma took out the host and advanced.
- #3 Oregon State was stretched to the Monday finish by Vanderbilt, who lost their first game but blew out the competition to get to regional game 7. There, Vandy’s luck ran out and Oregon State avoided the huge upset.
- #14 Auburn battered its way to the title, winnings its games 19-7, 21-7, and 9-0, the last game of which was interrupted by rain.
- #6 Miami won its opener, but them lost two straight to not even advance to the regional final. Instead, a Monday game will decide between Ole Miss and Arizona in a battle of college baseball royalty. The final game turned out to be a laugher, as Ole Miss destroyed Arizona 22-6 to move on.
- #11 Southern Miss was beaten in the winner’s bracket by LSU, but fought back to force Monday game. IN game 7, Southern Miss held on for a back and forth battle to win.
- #7 Oklahoma State and Arkansas didn’t show a ton of defense en route to a monday final; Oklahoma State’s games were 10-5, 12-20, 29-15, and 14-10. In the final game, Arkansas won with a more reasonable score of 7-3 to move on.
- #10 UNC was stretched to a Monday game by #3 seed VCU. However, UNC held on to advance.
- #2 Stanford lost early to Texas State, but came back to force a Monday finish. A concerning wobble for the #2 overall seed. In that final, Stanford needed a captivating 9th inning come back to walk off the win.
- #15 Maryland had to go extras to force the Monday finisher against Big East perennial powerhouse UConn. There, UConn got the big win and moved on.
Fun facts:
- Not ONE #1 seed lost on day one. That’s gotta be a first.
- Highest Seed out:
- Nine of the Sixteen regionals stretched to game seven.
- Most dominant Regional win:
- Worst showing by #1 seed: Georgia Southern or Miami. Probably Miami, the highest seed to lose.
- Best showing by #4 Seed: Air Force Academy
Super Regionals:
- #1 Tennessee hosts Notre Dame: Tennessee is on a run.
- #8 ECU hosts #9 Texas: i’m favoring the big12 school here.
- #5 TAMU versus #12 Louisville: i think the SEC team has the advantage here.
- #4 Virginia Tech vs Oklahoma: Tech may be the seed, but Oklahoma may be the better team.
- #3 Oregon State vs #14 Auburn: I’m thinking Auburn has the advantage here.
- Ole Miss vs #11 Southern Miss: Love this all-Mississippi matchup. Ole Miss is the SEC power, but they’ have to go to their junior cousin to win.
- Arkansas vs #10 UNC: UNC is the seed and host, but Arkansas is the hot hand
- #2 Stanford vs UConn; Uconn has to fly 3000 miles for this one; can they push the Pac12 champ?
Predictions: Tennessee, Texas, TAmu, Oklahoma, Auburn, Ole Miss, Arkansas, Stanford