The NCAA baseball tournament bracket is headlined by the SEC, which as a deserving reward for another dominant regular season was assigned half of this week’s regional host sites and awarded 13 bids in the tournament’s 64-team field.
This is totally unsurprising: SEC teams rank No. 2, No. 3, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 in the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll entering the tournament while the league has 11 teams in the Top 25.
The league’s regional hosts include Texas, which will look to rebound from an early exit from the SEC tournament, and Tennessee, the defending national champions. The eight hosts tie the tournament record from one conference previously set by the SEC in 2023 and the 13 teams set a new record.
Three ACC teams will play host for the regionals in North Carolina, Florida State and Clemson. Big Ten newcomers Oregon and UCLA are hosts, as are Coastal Carolina and Southern Mississippi from the Sun Belt and Oregon State, an independent.
Regional play features four teams in a double-elimination format. Winners will advance into best-of-three super regional play next weekend.
Beginning with the SEC, here are the biggest winners and losers from the World Series bracket:
Winners
The SEC
The full list of hosts: No. 1 Vanderbilt, No. 2 Texas, No. 3 Arkansas, No. 4 Auburn, No. 6 LSU, No. 7 Georgia, No. 10 Mississippi and No. 14 Tennessee. Joining this group are Alabama, Mississippi State, Oklahoma, Florida and Kentucky. As you can tell, there is simply no conference that’s close to the SEC. As in the NCAA softball tournament, the SEC has so many teams in the field, and so many near the top of the bracket, that the league is the undeniable favorite to bring home the national championship. Of course, the SEC has won the past five crowns and six of the past seven.
North Carolina
After capturing the ACC tournament for the second time in four years, No. 5 UNC is the highest-ranked seed from outside the SEC. The Tar Heels will also draw what looks on paper like a friendly regional that includes Oklahoma, Big Ten tournament champion Nebraska and Patriot League winner Holy Cross. UNC will open against the Crusaders, who needed extra innings to win the clinching game against Army and capture their second conference title in program history.
Oregon State
Playing as an independent with the Pac-12 on hiatus, No. 8 Oregon State was able to corral a path toward hosting a super regional thanks in large part to a strong RPI ranking and a very challenging non-conference schedule that was mostly loaded with road games. This is a huge deal for the Beavers, who have gone 30-7 in regional games played at Goss Stadium. Coming out of the weekend against the group of TCU, Southern California and Saint Mary’s would put Oregon State on track to host its super regional. That the Beavers drew a top-eight seed has to be tough for rival Oregon to swallow after the Big Ten regular-season co-champions swept a four-game set in late April.
Losers
Texas A&M
After going all the way to the championship series against the Volunteers last season and beginning this year ranked No. 1, the Aggies were unable to find a groove and fell short of the tournament despite making a late run in the SEC tournament. In doing so, A&M became the first preseason No. 1 team to miss the bracket since 1991, painting the Aggies as one of the biggest letdowns in the recent history of college baseball. You can point to a brutal schedule loaded with ranked competition, injuries to a few key returning contributors and the drop in offensive production as the culprits behind this unexpected swoon. But there’s no sugarcoating just how disappointing this season was for A&M.
The Big 12
Arizona State, Kansas State and Oklahoma State sneaked into the tournament as three of the last teams to be selected, joining TCU, Arizona, Kansas, Cincinnati and West Virginia to give the Big 12 eight teams in the bracket. That a good chunk of these teams just barely cracked the 64-team tournament helps show where the league stands in the national picture, however. None of the Big 12 teams will host a series this weekend. But keep an eye on Arizona in the regional hosted by Oregon; the Wildcats’ pitching heads into the tournament on fire, with starters allowing just one run in the past 22.1 innings.
Georgia
Another Big 12 team that could make some noise is Oklahoma State, the third seed in the regional hosted by No. 7 Georgia. The Bulldogs might have the toughest draw of any host, in fact, with the Cowboys joined by Duke and Binghamton. While Georgia has the talent, confidence and experience to advance to the second weekend, the Bulldogs will be tested by the Cowboys and Blue Devils, two opponents capable of pulling off an upset and reaching super regional play. Georgia has eight players with at least 10 home runs, led by Robbie Burnett’s 20 and all-league pick Slate Alford’s 17, but will need to get even more from pitcher Brian Curley, who has developed into the Bulldogs’ No. 1 arm.
