2022 NCAA Baseball Tournament Projected Field Of 64 (3/30/22)

More than a month into the college baseball season, the Road to Omaha is taking shape. Most conferences have begun conference play and while there’s still a lot of baseball left to be played, it’s not too early to start breaking down the postseason picture.

This is Baseball America’s first in-season Projected Field of 64 of the year. At this time of season, the emphasis is definitely on “projected.” This is not meant to be how the tournament would be seeded if it started tomorrow, it is meant to illustrate what it might be expected to look like on Selection Monday.

RPI, the primary metric the selection committee uses to build the field, is beginning to normalize, particularly at the top end. But teams can still see significant movement in the RPI in a given week and some teams listed here have a lot of work to do to improve their numbers.

As is typically the case, the ACC and SEC lead the way in the hosting race. Both have four hosts in this projection, with the Big 12 and Pac-12 each getting three.

Much is still to be decided among the hosts, of course, but outside of those four conferences, there have been two significant developments. The first is that East Carolina, which has hosted in three straight seasons, has stumbled early and is unlikely to host. In fact, the American Athletic Conference, which has produced a host in all but one of its seven-season history, is unlikely to have a host as ECU (74) is the conference’s top-ranked team in RPI. The second is Dallas Baptist, which ranks No. 1 in RPI and strength of schedule. While it has not yet begun Missouri Valley Conference play, the conference ranks fifth in conference RPI, suggesting the Patriots will not be penalized by playing poor conference opponents. DBU will have to do its part, but it has a big opportunity to host regionals for the first time since 2015.

In addition to DBU, Gonzaga (4), San Diego (6) and Maryland (11) are early interlopers into the upper echelon of RPI. The Terrapins get the hosting nod here, but both West Coast Conference teams look to have staying power in the hosting conversation this season.

The SEC leads with 10 bids in this projection, which would match a record. The ACC follows with nine bids. The Pac-12 has five teams in the field and the Big 12 and the Big Ten each have four.

Baseball America will continue to update the projected field weekly throughout the spring.

PROJECTED FIELD OF 64
Knoxville, Tenn.		College Park, Md.
1. (1) Tennessee*^		1. (16) Maryland*^
2. East Carolina*		2. North Carolina
3. Indiana State*		3. South Carolina
4. Central Michigan*		4. VCU*

Corvallis, Ore.		Coral Gables, Fla.
1. (2) Oregon State*^		1. (15) Miami^
2. Georgia Southern*		2. Florida
3. Purdue		3. Iowa
4. Army*		4. College of Charleston*

Charlottesville, Va.		Eugene, Ore.
1. (3) Virginia*^		1. (14) Oregon^
2. Liberty*		2. Gonzaga*
3. Connecticut*		3. UC Irvine*
4. Norfolk State*		4. Nevada*

Fayetteville, Ark.		Tucson, Ariz.
1. (4) Arkansas^		1. (13) Arizona^
2. UCLA		2. Notre Dame
3. UC Santa Barbara		3. Grand Canyon*
4. New Jersey Tech*		4. Yale*

Tallahassee, Fla.		Dallas
1. (5) Florida State^		1. (12) Dallas Baptist*^
2. Georgia		2. Texas Christian
3. Mercer*		3. Louisiana Tech
4. Bethune-Cookman*		4. Southeast Missouri State*

Lubbock, Texas		Nashville
1. (6) Texas Tech*^		1. (11) Vanderbilt^
2. Stanford		2. Charlotte*
3. Mississippi State		3. Wake Forest
4. Bryant*		4. South Carolina-Upstate*

Louisville		Stillwater, Okla.
1. (7) Louisville^		1. (10) Oklahoma State^
2. Michigan		2. Louisiana State
3. Kentucky		3. San Diego
4. Wright State*		4. Oral Roberts*

Austin		Oxford, Miss.
1. (8) Texas^		1. (9) Mississippi^
2. Texas State*		2. Southern Mississippi
3. North Carolina State		3. Georgia Tech
4. Fairfield*		4. New Orleans*