NCAA Baseball Tournament Winners And Losers From Regionals Weekend
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After an action-packed weekend of regionals, 16 teams have advanced on the Road to Omaha. Here we break down the winners and losers from the weekend.
Winners
Viewers: Could we have asked for anything more this weekend? Regionals started crazily with a record six walk-offs on Friday. The fun didn’t stop all weekend long, as there were thrilling, dramatic games all the way through. No matter what part of baseball you like–pitching, home runs, Cinderella stories, elite teams, top prospects–there was something for you. It’s a fun weekend every year, but this one felt better than usual.
The ACC: The conference has five teams in super regionals for the first time ever after all five of its hosts won their regionals. That’s significant enough to make the conference a winner, but its boosters are also very happy to note that the ACC this weekend had a better winning percentage than the SEC (.708 vs. .639) and that the five ACC hosts all had No. 2 seeds from the SEC. Does it mean more? Ultimately the narrative will be decided in Omaha, but ACC fans are certainly justified in celebrating this weekend’s success.
Hosts: Homefield advantage was the cheat code all season long in college baseball and that didn’t stop this weekend. The hosts went 41-13 for a cool .759 winning percentage. While that’s impressive, it didn’t lead to any more hosts than normal advancing to super regionals. Six hosts still lost this weekend, matching the 10-year average. The difference was that there were a few more sweeps than usual.
The Beaver State: Both Oregon and Oregon State advanced to super regionals for the first time ever. This is old hat and expected for the Beavers, who were a host, after all. The Ducks, meanwhile, twice beat host UC Santa Barbara to sweep through the Santa Barbara Regional and are in super regionals for the third time in program history. The Beaver State is one of only three states with multiple teams in super regionals, joining Florida and North Carolina, which both also had two teams advance.
Cinderella: Evansville became the ninth No. 4 seed in the 64-team era (since 1999) to win a regional. The Purple Aces upset East Carolina twice to win the Greenville Regional. Evansville has never won a regional in program history and they’re scorching hot. They’ve won nine of their last 10 games, including sweeping through the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. Their reward? A trip to No. 1 overall seed Tennessee.
Losers
Bubble hosts: No matter whether we’re talking the controversial hosts (Arizona and East Carolina) or the teams analysts thought the selection committee should have selected as hosts instead (Dallas Baptist, Duke, Wake Forest and to a lesser extent Mississippi State and Indiana State), none of them had a particularly good weekend. Arizona, Duke and Wake Forest went 0-2. DBU went 1-2. East Carolina lost twice to its No. 4 seed. Mississippi State and Indiana State both played fine on the road, reaching a regional final. Both had tough draws (Virginia and Kentucky, respectively), but neither broke through. In conclusion, maybe the committee got it right, maybe they didn’t; but no one truly made a statement.
No. 2 seeds: As a group, No. 2 seeds went 19-32 and none advanced to super regionals. Six No. 2 seeds reached regional finals and only LSU forced a Game 7. That’s a bit random and a bit the result of the hosts being so good. I wouldn’t read too much into it, but it’s definitely odd.
Conference USA: I don’t mean to pick on a mid-major conference. I’m critical because I care. I expected better than 1-4 out of DBU and Louisiana Tech, especially after I argued the Patriots should have been a host. In a Fayetteville Regional that got weird, La Tech, the CUSA champion, got quickly bounced and was outscored 28-7 by Kansas State and Southeast Missouri State. DBU, the CUSA Tournament champion, got a tough draw in Tucson, especially having to face West Virginia ace Derek Clark in the opener. And the Patriots did knock out Arizona with a shutout. But ultimately, it was a tough weekend for the conference.
California: For the first time in the 64-team field era (since 1999), no team from California won a regional. There were only three teams from the Golden State in the field to begin with (San Diego, UC Irvine and UC Santa Barbara), but none were able to make it through the weekend. That’s even with UCSB and San Diego being the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Santa Barbara Regional. And, while it’s important not to overreact, this seems like more than just happenstance.
The Big West hasn’t had a super regional team since 2018 (Cal State Fullerton) and UCSB losing at home with its star-studded rotation feels like a real missed opportunity. Meanwhile, none of the Pac-12’s four California schools made the tournament. California and Southern California both got hot down the stretch and the Golden Bears were among the first four teams left out of the tournament, according to the selection committee. Stanford and UCLA both had uncharacteristically bad seasons (both lost 33 games). With the Pac-12 breaking up, those four teams will all be in new conferences next year. Will the state produce a super regional team in 2025? A Big West team will break back through eventually and those former Pac-12 teams will bounce back sooner than later. But will it be next year?
