A topsy-turvy regional round in the NCAA baseball tournament has set up an intriguing set of eight super regionals featuring seven teams from the Southeastern Conference, just one from the Atlantic Coast Conference and four mid-major programs.
Nine of the 16 national seeds advanced to super regionals but conspicuously absent are the top two, UCLA and Georgia Tech. Two No. 4 regional seeds, Little Rock and St. John’s, reached the tournament’s second weekend for the first time.
Four of the best-of-three supers are Friday through Sunday: Cal Poly (39-22) at No. 16 national seed West Virginia (43-15); Little Rock (39-26) at Troy (36-30); Southern California (47-16) at No. 5 North Carolina (48-11-1); and Mississippi (39-21) at No. 4 Auburn (42-20).
The four series Saturday through Monday: Oklahoma (36-22) at No. 15 Kansas (45-16); St. John’s (36-24) at No. 7 Alabama (40-19); No. 11 Oregon (43-16) at No. 6 Texas (43-13); and No. 14 Mississippi State (43-17) at No. 3 Georgia (49-12).
The eight winners advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, starting June 12.
2025 CWS teams all gone
None of the 2025 CWS teams will be back in Omaha after Arkansas, Coastal Carolina, Oregon State and UCLA were eliminated in regionals. The other four CWS teams from last year — Arizona, Louisville, national champion LSU and Murray State — did not make the NCAA Tournament.
This marks the first time no teams from the previous year’s CWS reached super regionals. It will be the second straight CWS with no teams from the previous year after there had been at least one in every CWS from 1957-2024.
SEC bounces back
The SEC had seven of its 12 tournament teams get through regionals after having only four of 13 do so last year. College baseball’s most powerful conference has produced the last six national champions, 11 of the last 16 and have had a team in 15 of the last 16 CWS finals.
The SEC is assured of having two teams in the CWS and could have a record-tying four.
ACC flops
The ACC had the No. 2 conference RPI and had nine teams in regionals. Only one, North Carolina, made it through. Prior to this year, the ACC had never had fewer than two teams in super regionals. The Tar Heels went 3-0 in their regional and if they make it to Omaha, they’ll play for the ACC’s third national title in baseball and first since 2015.
First-timers in supers
Cal Poly, Kansas, Little Rock and Troy will be making their super regional debuts.
Big West Tournament champion Cal Poly was the No. 3 seed in the Los Angeles Regional and beat Virginia Tech once and St. Mary’s twice. Mustangs pitchers combined for a 1.33 ERA in the three games and Nick Bonn earned his nation-leading 16th and 17th saves. Casey Murray batted .583 (7 for 12).
It’s old home week for Kansas, which hosts former longtime conference mate Oklahoma after overcoming a five-run deficit to beat Arkansas 13-10 in the regional final. The Jayhawks’ 45 wins are tied with the program record set by the 1993 CWS team, and they’ve hit a school-record 110 homers.
Little Rock of the Ohio Valley and Troy of the Sun Belt are paired against each other for a battle of the Trojans. One surely will be adopted as the local fan favorite in Omaha (think 2025 Murray State, 2023 Oral Roberts, etc.)
Little Rock, which reached a regional final a year ago, broke through with three straight wins as the No. 4 regional seed in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. Blake Simpson was regional MVP after going 8 for 14 with a double, triple, homer and four RBIs.
Troy, one of the last four teams to receive an at-large bid, went to Florida and outscored the Gators 26-13 over two games to advance. Regional MVP Jabe Boroff homered four times and drove in 12 runs over five games in Gainesville.
It’s been a while, Johnnies
Big East champion St. John’s heads to Alabama after one of the most surprising regional runs. The Red Storm went 3-0 in Tallahassee, Florida, to advance to supers for the first time since 2012. They’ll be playing for their first CWS berth since 1980.
St. John’s was the first team since 2023 to win three games in a regional when trailing by multiple runs. Adam Agresti’s two-out grand slam in the fifth inning Monday sent the Red Storm to a 5-4 win over Florida State, Agresti also homered in a 6-5 win over the Seminoles on Friday.
Year of the catcher
The deep pool of talent at catcher will be on display across the country.
SEC player of the year Daniel Jackson of Georgia is batting .396 and is fourth nationally with 29 homers and 83 RBIs. Then there’s Texas’ Carson Tinney (.333, 21 HRs, 56 RBIs); Auburn’s Chase Fralick (.321, 20 HRs, 60 RBIs); St. John’s Adam Agresti (19 HRs, 54 RBIs); Oklahoma’s Deiten Lachance (14 HRs, 58 RBIs); West Virginia’s Gavin Kelly (.381, 16 HRs, 56 RBIs); Cal Poly’s Ryan Tayman (.362, 18 HRs, 56 RBIs); and Troy’s Jimmy Janicki (.349, 23 doubles, 85 RBIs).
Two possible top-10 picks in the MLB amateur draft, Georgia Tech’s Vahn Lackey and Arkansas’ Ryan Helfrick, didn’t make super regionals.
Home field advantage
Since the tournament went to its current format in 1999, the team hosting a super regional on its home field has won 69.3% of the time. That’s 142 of 205 and does not include three series that were played at neutral sites.
___
AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports
