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Tennessee earned the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA baseball tournament after winning a share of the SEC regular-season championship and then following up with an SEC tournament title.
The Road to Omaha begins Friday with the start of Regional play. The winners of the 16 Regionals will move on to the eight Super Regionals the following weekend, with the eight winners of the Supers advancing to the College World Series.
Knoxville Regional
- Tennessee (1)
- Southern Miss
- Indiana
- Northern Kentucky
Tennessee leads the nation with 147 home runs and ranks fourth with a 1.013 OPS. The Vols have five players who hit at least 17 home runs, headlined by second baseman Christian Moore (.382, 28 HRs, 63 RBIs). … Southern Miss went 13-6 vs. the NCAA Tournament field. The Golden Eagles are in a Regional for the eighth consecutive season. … Indiana outfielder Devin Taylor is one of the top prospects in the 2025 MLB Draft. The sophomore from Cincinnati is hitting .352 with 18 home runs and 49 RBIs. … Northern Kentucky is in a Regional as a Division I member for the first time in school history. The Norse rank sixth nationally in hitting with a .319 average.
Prediction: Tennessee
Lexington Regional
- Kentucky (2)
- Indiana State
- Illinois
- Western Michigan
Kentucky, which shared the SEC regular-season championship with Tennessee, won a program-record 22 conference games. The Wildcats are making consecutive postseason appearances for the first time in program history. … Indiana State is in the postseason for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Sycamores had eight players start at least 52 of the team’s 55 games. … Illinois won the Big Ten regular-season title by two games over Nebraska. The Fighting Illini lead the Big Ten in home runs (103), slugging (.522) and OPS (.927). … Western Michigan, 32-21 overall, has a winning record for the first time since 2008. The Broncos have two players hitting .380 or better with at least 10 home runs — first baseman Cade Sullivan (.397, 10 HRs) and DH CJ Richmond (.384, 13 HRs).
Prediction: Indiana State
Kentucky’s Ryan Waldschmidt was a second-team All-SEC pick. (Sam Upshaw Jr./ USA Today)
Bryan/College Station Regional
- Texas A&M (3)
- Louisiana
- Texas
- Grambling
Texas A&M went 4-8 in its last 12 games against SEC opponents, but two of the wins came against Arkansas, the No. 5 national seed. The Aggies rank third in the SEC in OPS (.986) and third in ERA (4.01). … Louisiana (40-18, 23-7) won the Sun Belt title by three games over Southern Miss. Reliever LP Langevin has 100 strikeouts in 60 innings and ranks fourth nationally in strikeout percentage (38.8). … Texas’ 38 College World Series appearances are the most of all time. The Longhorns’ longest CWS drought is six seasons, from 1994 through 1999. … Grambling’s ERA of 8.30 is the worst among the 64 teams in the NCAA Tournament.
Prediction: Texas A&M
Chapel Hill Regional
- North Carolina (4)
- LSU
- Wofford
- LIU
North Carolina went 22-8 in the ACC to claim its first league title since 2018. The Tar Heels had gone exactly .500 in conference play the previous three seasons — 18-18 in 2001, 15-15 in 2022 and 14-14 in 2023. … This is the fifth time in the current format — which started in 1999 — that LSU has been sent on the road in Regional play. The Tigers were the No. 2 seed in 2010, 2018 and 2022 and failed to get out of the Regional each time. They did, however, win the Eugene Regional as a No. 3 seed in 2021. … Wofford ranks third nationally in batting average (.338) and eighth in OPS (.982). The Terriers scored 38 runs in their final three games of the Southern Conference tournament. … LIU is playing in its third Regional in program history. The Blackbirds of LIU Brooklyn (as they were called then) went 0-2 in the Conway Regional in 2018, and the Sharks (the current nickname) went 0-2 in the College Park Regional in 2022.
Prediction: LSU
Fayetteville Regional
- Arkansas (5)
- Louisiana Tech
- Kansas State
- SE Missouri State
Arkansas left-hander Hagen Smith leads the nation in ERA (1.48) and batting average against (.139) and ranks second in strikeout percentage (50.2). Smith allowed two earned runs or fewer in nine of 10 SEC regular-season starts — and just three in the other start. … Louisiana Tech, 45-17 overall, needs one win to tie the program record for wins set in 1978. The Bulldogs have won 17 of their last 21 games. … Kansas State ranked 10th in the Big 12 (league games only) in batting average (.258), home runs (28) and slugging (.393). … SE Missouri State is in a Regional for the third time in the past four seasons. The Redhawks went 0-2 in both 2021 and 2022, losing the four games by a combined score of 52-11.
Prediction: Arkansas
Clemson Regional
- Clemson (6)
- Vanderbilt
- Coastal Carolina
- High Point
Clemson is 40-20 in the ACC in Erik Bakich’s two seasons as head coach, the program’s best two-year stretch since the 2005 and 2006 Tigers went a combined 45-15. Bakich was an assistant at Vanderbilt from 2003-09. … Vanderbilt is in the NCAA Tournament for the 18th consecutive season. It’s the longest active streak in the country and the longest such streak ever by an SEC team. The Commodores last missed the field in 2005, Tim Corbin’s third season as head coach. … Coastal Carolina coach Gary Gilmore will retire at the end of the season, his 29th at the school. He reached the postseason in 19 of his final 23 seasons, highlighted by the 2016 national championship. … High Point is playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time as a member of Division I.
Prediction: Clemson
Athens Regional
- Georgia (7)
- UNCW
- Georgia Tech
- Army
Georgia leadoff hitter Corey Collins leads the nation in on-base percentage (.584) and No. 2 hitter Charlie Condon leads in batting average (.443), slugging (1.043), OPS (1.601) and home runs (35). As a team, the Bulldogs are third in the country in home runs with 140. … UNCW went 3-2 in five games against East Carolina, NC State, North Carolina and Wake Forest, all in midweek action. … Georgia Tech outfielder Drew Burress ranks second nationally among freshmen with 27 home runs. He set a single-game school record when he hit four home runs against Georgia State in late February. … Army is in a Regional for the sixth consecutive season and 11th time since 2000. The Black Knights, however, have lost 10 straight games in the NCAA Tournament, with their last win coming in 2018 against No. 1 seed NC State in the first round of the Raleigh Regional.
Prediction: Georgia
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Tallahassee Regional
- Florida State (8)
- Alabama
- UCF
- Stetson
Florida State’s streak of missing the NCAA Tournament ended at one year. The Seminoles made the field every season from 1978 through 2022 but did not receive an invite in 2023 after going 23-31 overall and 9-21 in the ACC. … Alabama played a weekend series against four of the top five national seeds. The Crimson Tide took two out of three from Tennessee (No. 1) and Arkansas (No. 5), lost two out of three to Texas A&M (No. 3) and got swept by Kentucky (No. 2). … UCF has only 57 home runs and doesn’t have a player with more than 10. The Knights also have only one player (with at least 100 at-bats) who is hitting over .300. … Stetson made the NCAA Tournament seven times in eight seasons from 2000-07 but has made it only four times since. The Hatters were a No. 1 seed in 2018, the last time they made a Regional.
Prediction: Florida State
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Norman Regional
- Oklahoma (9)
- Duke
- UConn
- Oral Roberts
Oklahoma hit .327 in Big 12 play. The other 12 teams in the league combined to hit .264 in conference games. Two Sooners hit over .400 in the league — Michael Snyder (.408) and Easton Carmichael (.406). … Duke has won a Regional as a No. 2 or No. 3 seed three times in its last four tournament appearances. The Blue Devils went on to lose in the Supers, in three games, each time. … UConn is in a Regional for the sixth consecutive season. The Huskies won the College Park Regional in 2022 before losing to Stanford in the Supers, 2-1. … Oral Roberts is back in the field after last year’s run to the College World Series as a No. 4 seed. The 2023 team entered the postseason with a 46-11 record (and went 23-1 in the Summit League). This team is 27-30-1 overall and went 13-15-1 in league play.
Prediction: Duke
Raleigh Regional
- NC State (10)
- South Carolina
- James Madison
- Bryant
NC State won a series against three No. 1 seeds (North Carolina, Clemson and Virginia) and two No. 2 seeds (Duke and Wake Forest) and split a series against Florida State. … South Carolina catcher Cole Messina is one of the hottest hitters in the country. In five SEC tournament games, the junior went 9 for 16 with four home runs and a tournament-record 16 RBIs. He also walked eight times. … James Madison’s season began on a high note: On Feb. 16, the Dukes scored three runs in the top of the first inning against Hagen Smith, Arkansas’ All-America left-hander. Smith has allowed only 10 earned runs in 14 games since. … Bryant is in a Regional for the fourth time since 2013 but the first time since 2016. The Bulldogs are 1-6 in their previous three trips, with the lone win against Arkansas as a No. 3 seed in 2013.
Prediction: NC State
Stillwater Regional
- Oklahoma State (11)
- Nebraska
- Florida
- Niagara
Oklahoma State’s Carson Benge is one of the top two-way players in the nation. The sophomore is hitting .342 with 17 home runs and 62 RBIs as a starting outfielder and is 3-1 with a 2.25 ERA and a 0.875 WHIP as a right-handed reliever. … Nebraska junior right-hander Brett Sears leads the nation in WHIP (0.810) and ranks fourth in ERA (2.00). He has walked only 18 batters in 99 innings. … Florida played 35 games against teams in the NCAA Tournament (14-21), including 18 against top-eight national seeds (7-11). … Niagara, 20-4 in the MAAC, is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time in school history.
Prediction: Florida
Charlottesville Regional
- Virginia (12)
- Mississippi State
- St. John’s
- Penn
Virginia ranks second nationally with a .341 batting average — 25 percentage points higher than any other power-conference team. The Cavs have five regulars hitting at least .340. … Mississippi State is back in a Regional for the first time since winning the national championship in 2021. The Bulldogs went 9-21 in the SEC in 2022 and 2023 but rebounded with a 17-13 league record this season. … St. John’s reached the NCAA Tournament 10 times from 2004-18 but missed the field the last four seasons. This is the first appearance under fifth-year coach Mike Hampton. … Penn outfielder Wyatt Henseler leads the Ivy League with 22 home runs and ranks fourth in hitting with a .372 average. He announced before the 2024 season that he would be transferring to Texas A&M for his graduate season in 2025.
Prediction: Virginia
Tucson Regional
- Arizona (13)
- Dallas Baptist
- West Virginia
- Grand Canyon
Arizona, which won the Pac-12 regular-season championship by a half-game over Oregon State, has reached the postseason in four consecutive seasons for the first time since making 14 straight appearances from 1950 to ’63. … Dallas Baptist left-hander Ryan Johnson is tied for third in the country in wins (11) and ranks fifth in ERA (2.07). He has 147 strikeouts and only 12 walks in 100 innings. … West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt, a likely top-10 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, is hitting .356 with eight home runs and 30 RBIs. He missed six weeks earlier this season with a hamstring injury. Last year, as a sophomore, he led the nation with a .449 average. … Grand Canyon won two of three games vs. Arizona this season, splitting two games in Tucson and winning one game in Phoenix. All three were midweek games.
Prediction: Dallas Baptist
Santa Barbara Regional
- USCB (14)
- San Diego
- Oregon
- Fresno State
UCSB, which enters the postseason on a 14-game winning streak, went 25-0 at home in the regular season. No other team nationally lost fewer than two home games. The Gauchos also had the best conference record (26-4 in the Big West) of any team in the country. … San Diego tied with Niagara and Fairfield out of the MAAC for the second-best conference record in the nation. The Toreros went 20-4 in the West Coast Conference, edging Portland by one game for the regular-season title. … Oregon is 64-38 in the Pac-12 in four years under Mark Wasikowski and has made the NCAA Tournament each season. … Fresno State went 2-11 in its final 13 regular-season games and then lost the opening game of the Mountain West tournament. The Bulldogs then won four straight to clinch their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.
Prediction: UCSB
Corvallis Regional
- Oregon State (15)
- UC Irvine
- Nicholls
- Tulane
Oregon State second baseman Travis Bazzana, the potential No. 1 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, ranks second nationally in OPS (1.520), third in batting average (.418) and eighth in home runs (26). Earlier this season, he hit a leadoff home run in four straight games. … UC Irvine ranks 15th nationally with 497 runs scored despite having only 60 home runs (tied for 145th). Catcher Thomas McCaffrey leads the team with 10 home runs. … Nicholls sophomore right-hander Jacob Mayers ranks fifth nationally in batting average against (.160) and has 105 strikeouts in 69 1/3 innings. That’s the good news. The bad news: He has walked 74 batters. … Tulane has made the field in consecutive seasons after winning the automatic bid in the American Athletic Conference. Last year, the Green Wave were 19-40 entering the NCAA Tournament. This year’s team is a far more respectable 35-24.
Prediction: UC Irvine
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Greenville Regional
- East Carolina (16)
- Wake Forest
- VCU
- Evansville
East Carolina went 6-2 in eight nonconference games against teams in the NCAA Tournament, including a combined 4-2 vs. Duke, NC State and North Carolina. … Wake Forest right-hander Chase Burns leads the nation in strikeouts (180) and strikeout percentage (50.3). First baseman Nick Kurtz ranks first nationally in walks (76) and ranks fourth in on-base percentage (.538). … VCU enters the Regional with a 9-1 record in its last 10 games and allowed four runs or fewer in all nine wins. … Evansville is in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2006 and the fourth time ever. The Purple Aces secured their bid by beating Indiana State in the Missouri Valley tournament championship game.
Prediction: Wake Forest
Eight for Omaha
Tennessee
UC Irvine
Texas A&M
Dallas Baptist
Arkansas
Clemson
NC State
Duke
(Photo of Kavares Tears: Vasha Hunt / USA Today; Braden Montgomery and Shea Sprague: Scott Kinser / USA Today)
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