And then there were 16… and soon there will be eight!
Welcome to the super regionals of the NCAA men's baseball tournament, also known as the final, steepest, best-of-three climb on the season-long road to Omaha. From here you can practically smell the steaks and taste the Zesto's soft serve. But first, there's a lot of work for baseball players to do and a lot of baseball for the rest of us to watch.
What exactly should you be on the lookout for? We've been pondering that thought since the regional finals were written up in the scorebooks Monday night. So, grab your lucky plush toy, smear on some eye black, and read on as we present our What2Watch4 Super Regional edition of NCAA Hardball.
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Southern Game of Thrones | Defenders of…
Omaha? | Top draft picks everywhere | it's so great
1. Game of Thrones South, y'all
This super regional rounder has a thicker southern accent than Marty Smith. There are four SEC teams hosting: Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia and Texas A&M, with a fifth team, Florida, on the road at Clemson. Speaking of the Tigers, they are one of four ACC teams that are also hosts, along with Florida State, Virginia and North Carolina, with a fifth team in NC State on the road in Georgia. So, doing our best Doctor Strange impersonation, we can definitely see a scenario where there are only two conferences represented in Omaha, and with an even four-to-four split. The record for most teams in a conference is four, achieved by the SEC four times and the ACC once. If we end up with four of each, someone make sure to bring some extra barbecue sauce on the way to Nebraska.
2. West Coast Defenders
In the past, it was not unusual for a region to occupy the Omaha group, but it was far west of the Mississippi, led by the one-two punch of the Grand Canyon State of Arizona and the state of Arizona, along with too many Californias. schools to list. But in recent years, the rise of the South has blocked the gateway to Pacific programs. There is a huge map of the United States at the MCWS Baseball Village next to the stadium that shows all the schools in MCWS and how far they are from Omaha. For the past three seasons, that lopsided map showed only one team in the West, Stanford.
This year, defending West Coast time zone honors falls to archrivals Oregon and Oregon State, who will have to overcome No. 4 Texas A&M and No. 2 Kentucky on the road. They are also the last chance for the Pac-12 to win its record-extending 30th MCWS title before the conference goes the way of college wood bats.
3. Advocates everywhere
College baseball has always been governed by the Sun Belt, from Florida to California, where the climate is warm and baseball is played year-round. That's why the Big Ten hasn't taken home the MCWS title since 1966. And that's why what UConn has done in recent years is so surprising. The Huskies, who like most Northeast teams play the entire first month of their season on the road to escape the snow, are in their 10th NCAA tournament since 2010 and their third superregional since 2011 and second in three years. They haven't been to Omaha since their fifth trip in 1979. If they can beat Florida State in Tallahassee, they will be the first Big East team in the MCWS since Louisville in 2013, days before they left for the United States.
4. Omaha? Where is that?
Since the MCWS debuted in 1947, a whopping 116 schools have made it to the college baseball extravaganza, so seeing a program make its debut in Omaha is about as likely as watching Bigfoot play the piano. But this year's super regional field has a full quartet of teams looking to become the first from their schools to reach the final eight. West Virginia is making its 15th appearance in the NCAA tournament and fourth in the last seven postseasons played, but this is the Mountaineers' first super. The Evansville Purple Aces are making their first postseason in nearly two decades and had never advanced the first weekend until upsetting No. 16 overall East Carolina in the Greenville Regional. Your reward? A trip to top-ranked Tennessee. The team ranked just behind the Vols, Kentucky, is the last SEC school to never experience Omaha. Meanwhile, Kansas State is also seeking its first MCWS berth as a program that didn't even make its first NCAA tournament appearance until 2009, but has done so five times since.
5. Omaha? We've been there before, but it's been a while.
The Oregon Ducks have been to Omaha before. Once. And it was in 1954. And they went 0-2. Clemson has been a dozen times, but not since 2010. Georgia's last trip was in 2008, when it took a 4-0 lead in Game 2 of the title series by one game, but ended up losing. the title against Fresno. Wonderful dogs of the state.
6. Omaha? We have unfinished business in Omaha!
Teams to watch this weekend that are eager to get back to Omaha so they can do a Ray Kinsella and ease their pain are led by Florida State, which is looking for its first trip to the MCWS without the legendary Mike Martin, who played or coached in each one of FSU's 23 previous appearances. Unfortunately, he is also 0 for 23 attempts at winning the title.
There's a lot of that pain for all these supers. Clemson is 0-12 in Omaha, Tennessee is 0-6 and North Carolina is 0-11, having lost its final two appearances in 2007 to Oregon State. It's easy to bet that many people in Carolina Blue have already realized that there is a path that could lead to a revenge game against the Beavers in this year's finale.
7. The return of Jactani
A year ago, the college baseball world fell in love with Florida's Jac Caglianone, aka Jactani, like Shohei Ohtani, because, like the Los Angeles Dodgers, this Gator is a two-way player. As a first baseman, he is hitting .410 with 31 home runs and 63 RBIs. As a left-handed pitcher, he has posted a 5-2 record with 76 strikeouts, tied for his team's best win-loss record and second on the K's. But don't take our collegial word for it. Our friends at the ESPN MLB page have the 6-foot-5, 250-pounder projected to go fourth overall in next month's MLB draft.
8. Wait… Caglianone is only fourth?
Yes. And two of the three players above him will also be in action this weekend. Beavers second bagger Travis Bazzana is on ESPN's prospect list (third), as are Texas A&M right fielder Braden Montgomery (sixth), West Virginia shortstop JJ Wetherholt (seventh) and Florida State outfielder James “They Call Me Mister” Tibbs (ninth). . Also keep an eye on fellow Seminole teammates Cameron Smith (18), Tennessee's Christian Moore (16) and Billy Amick (26), Kentucky outfielder Ryan Waldschmidt (24) and Kansas State infielder Kaelen Culpepper.
9. Wait…so who's ranked number 1?
That would be Georgia third baseman Charlie Condon, who spent the 2024 season putting up numbers like a video game with all difficulty settings turned off. He is hitting .445 with 36 home runs and 98 hits (all best in the country). He also has 77 RBIs, despite walking 55 times, and has recorded just 39 strikeouts in 220 at-bats. The 6-6, 215-pound right-hander has yet to miss a game this season and he reaches base 56.6% of the time he steps on the plate. I'm not very good at math, but that all sounds pretty good to me. It also sounds pretty good to MLB scouts, who are very good at math.
10. A good time? No, the best time
Omaha is the goal. It's the castle. The tops. Nobody disputes that. But Super Bowl weekend is also the last chance for college baseball to make a little splash before the national sports audience in the friendly confines of some of the most colorful venues and crowds to be found anywhere in the sports world. , not just the world of college sports. . So make sure you use that remote control and the ESPN app as Renegade gallops onto the field in Tallahassee. Marvel at Kentucky's incredible multi-million dollar stadium commitment, even for a team that has never been to Omaha. Be amazed by the atmosphere of Rome-style intimidation that is Texas A&M's Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, shrouded in perpetual barbecue smoke. Take advantage of the magic that is the Bosh in Chapel Hill, where the Heels have long specialized in dramatic postseason finishes, both wins and losses. And let your ears ring with the tinkling of those composed bats, mixed with fight songs, howling wolves and “Rocky Top,” all marinated in country ales for three days. This is June. These are the round of 16. And you guys, it's great.
