First Glances

  • It’s time to celebrate our national pastime in its purest form.

It requires nearly one-hundred fifty baseball games across the next month to determine a national champion. For those unfamiliar with the format, the first 100 plus of those will take place this coming weekend as four team double-elimination tournaments hosted at sixteen regional sites spread out across the country. These regional sites are earned across the course of a long and grueling regular season. The sixteen teams emerging from this gauntlet will square off in eight three game series, also held on campus sites, to determine who survives and advances on the “Road To Omaha.” Those who prevail meet in a pair of four team double-elimination brackets in America’s heartland. Once two teams are left standing, they will battle in a best of three National Championship Series.

College baseball’s pursuit of a championship is a four week journey unlike anything else in sport. It builds toward a ten day celebration in Omaha known simply as the College World Series.

Consider that right around 300 NCAA Division 1 college baseball teams began the year with championship aspirations. They fought through league play to become one of 30 conference champions awarded “automatic qualifiers” for the annual tournament. Those who did not win their league endeavored to build a solid résumé across a fifty-plus game season in hopes of being awarded one of 34 at-large bids for entrance into the tourney. Now those sixty-four teams are left to settle it on the field. It all culminates in the “Greatest Show On Dirt.”

Before the elite among college baseball’s stars hear their names called in the upcoming MLB draft and turn their attention toward contract negotiations; they play once more for community and campus. Most college baseball players will be putting the finishing touches on the organized athletic competition chapter of life altogether. The real world awaits. These student-athletes play once more for the name on the front of the jersey. They play, at most, just a few more weeks for local pride, league supremacy and a lasting legacy. Let the games begin.

  • In the SEC, it truly does mean MORE.

In terms of more teams, more host sites and more championships in this tournament’s recent history; no league matches the SEC. The conference’s impressive dominance of the sport continues. Eleven total teams into the tournament from the league sets a new all-time mark for entries from a single conference.

Take a moment to explore the nature of the league’s success in recent editions of the tournament. Eight of the last fourteen national champions have come from the SEC. The league has produced sixteen CWS finalists in that fourteen season span. The five most recent tournaments have produced four champions which hail from the SEC. Perhaps most remarkably, it has been a different SEC club each time.

Further, six different SEC schools have won national titles across the last decade and a half (Ole Miss ‘22, Mississippi State ‘21, Vanderbilt ‘14 & ‘19, Florida ‘17, South Carolina ‘10 & ‘11 and LSU ‘09, ‘23). One of the strongest teams in this year’s field, Arkansas was a secured pop foul away in ‘18 from making it seven. For those keeping a tally, that’s half the league’s member institutions recently in position to claim a national championship.

Just how powerfully positioned is the SEC heading into this year’s tournament? It would be of little surprise should the league boast half the field in Omaha (4 of 8) for a second time in three season. Three super regionals have the potential to be head to head conference showdowns. Don’t forget, the league has notched 5 of the 16 host locations. All five of those teams would host supers as well, if the chalk holds. The programs not currently slated for the hosting line would not be shocking Omaha arrivals either. LSU, Mississippi State, Vanderbilt and South Carolina are all recent champions. Twice in the case of the Tigers, Commodores and Gamecocks.

Perhaps nowhere has the league’s strength been on display more clearly than the four all-SEC national championship series played since 2011 (SC-FLA in ‘11 / FLA-LSU in ‘17 / MISS ST-VANDY in ‘21 / LSU-FLA in ‘24). Few who follow the sport closely would be taken-aback by a similar outcome in late June this time around.

  • A surging  ACC grabs headlines after a strong regular season showing.

Ask any coach in the Atlantic Coast Conference and they’ll tell you the league is as strong as it has been in recent memory. Matching the standard bearing SEC with five host sites helps back up the claim. North Carolina leads the way after claiming the regular season crown, while NC State enters as hot as any team in the country. The Wolfpacks success against Top 10 opponents is well documented. Link Jarrett has Florida State playing like the ‘Noles of old, a reminder of the days when he led this group to Omaha thrice as Eleven’s (legendary FSU head Coach Mike Martin) shortstop. The Virginia Cavaliers are seeking a third trip to Brian O’Connor’s hometown in the last four seasons.  

The question remains, can an ACC club complete the task for a first title since Virginia’s 2015 crown. Before that, the ACC’s most recent National Championship success traced itself to the early days of this tournament when the paint was still fresh on Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium. Now baseball fans begin to find out just how well the ACC’s brand of baseball translates in the high-stakes environment of the College World Series.

  • Parity reigns, providing college baseball fans another season without a repeat champion.

Since the tournament embraced the current format in 1999, the top seed has claimed the crown just once. That very first edition saw another current ACC member, Miami, hoist the trophy. It has not happened since. The top seed has only appeared in the finals twice during that stretch, failing to even reach Omaha nine times.

This time it is Tennessee, again. It’s the age old “target on the back” challenge for a squad which dominated the SEC with what became termed a “Tennessee two-step.”  The Vols completed the rare regular season and tournament sweep in Hoover. 

The Vols have been in this spot before, though not in Omaha. Potential College World Series first game coaching opponent Link Jarrett upended Tony Vitello and company’s ‘22 pursuit of a title by stranding Tennessee on Rocky Top en route to his Omaha trip with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. 

College baseball has not seen a repeat champion in well over a decade. South Carolina remains the last team to accomplish this feat. The Gamecocks made their mark on the sport by closing down historic Rosenblatt Stadium as an extra inning walk-off winner and opening up the downtown destination with a second crown.

Will this year’s new champion be a familiar face or a first time champion? The answer will be determined over the next four weeks. The most likely candidates for a first time title at this point would be Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M, North Carolina, Arkansas, Clemson, Georgia and Florida State  from among the national seeds. By the way, that’s the entirety of the Top 8 National Seeds. Tournament history, however, reminds fans not to sleep on the relatively unknowns and previously unheralded entries.

Congratulations are in order to High Point, Niagara and Northern Kentucky. Each of these three teams are appearing the tournament for the first time in program history. Evansville is back in the field for the first time since 2006. Also of note, Link Jarrett has Florida State back in the tournament and in prime position to make some noise. The ‘Noles saw their string of consecutive tournament appearances, dating back to 1977, end last year. A return to both the tournament and National Seeding constitutes an impressive response for FSU. 

Though folks in Greenville, NC are likely tired of hearing it, no team has appeared in more tourneys, hosted more regionals or played in more super regional environments without reaching Omaha than their Pirates. East Carolina enters the tournament as a regional host. DBU is another club that has been knocking on the door of Omaha for some time. 

Heightened parity in college baseball, as evidenced by countless mid-week surprises across the course of the regular season, ultimately produced eleven conferences with multiple bids and just nineteen single-bid leagues. 

The improbable “last four in” to “last team standing” run by Ole Miss two seasons ago provided college baseball with its 31st different champion all time. Whatever happens on the road to Omaha in ‘24, the South Carolina Gamecocks status as the most recent team to repeat may very well be safe for at least one more year.

  • Regionals are clearly regional, and it is sure, “nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina.”

Speaking of a team from the Carolinas, it is worth noting that four such clubs are hosting regionals. That is a firm one-fourth of the regional hosts located within just a few short hours drive. North Carolina is represented by the Tarheels, Wolfpack and Pirates. Clemson carries the mantle for the Palmetto State this time around. 

While the prior mentioned schools may be the key headliners—don’t forget Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers magical run in 2016 has positioned the Conway crew as the most recent team from the Carolinas to host a championship parade. One last ride for Gary Gilmore provided added energy to his pesky club. Who can forget the multiple years South Carolina and Clemson both arrived in Omaha, taking one of the more intense rivalries in college sports to an even grander stage. With these three clubs representing the Palmetto State and seven more programs based in North Carolina as a part of the field, something similar could certainly happen again.

These ten teams make the Carolinas by far the premier location of any specifically connected region nationally. Texas/Louisiana or Texas/Oklahoma would be the next closest comparisons. It is a remarkable reminder of the passion surrounding the game of baseball in the southeast. 

A wider lens reveals just three regionals located outside what most in the sport consider to be its Southern footprint. Keep in mind, Kentucky and Texas A&M are in the SEC, leaving a trio of regionals West of The Lone Star State. The regional host outcome remains as predictably Southern in flavor as the game has ever seen.

  • Home field matters in this sport, in ways far deeper than just owning the final at bat.

Nearly seventy-five percent of regional winners under the existing college baseball tournament format have been hosts, and yes, the sample size is now large enough to mark trends. Two decades plus into the current approach, nearly 150 regional hosts have advanced to Omaha, compared to just over 50 from the other three seeds in regional play.

For what its worth, the only four seeds were Stony Brook in 2011 and that unforgettable Fresno State team which claimed the title in 2008. Remember, Ole Miss won it all as a #3 seed two season’s ago, something both Oregon State (‘07) and Virginia (‘15) have also accomplished along the way, so anything can happen.

Ballparks have become the featured piece and most visible evidence of the multi-faceted “arms race” in full effect across college baseball. Hosting provides programs a unique opportunity to show them off. Certain fan bases can be difference-makers as well. It is impossible to quantify the value of playing these crucial games inside the home yard. Those under the impression ballpark designations make little difference have never witnessed the timely energy a packed house of passionate fans can often provide during historic moments inside the hallowed cathedrals of the college game. These true impact home venues are spread out like rare gems all across the American landscape, from sea to shining sea. 

Regional sites are awarded. They serve as a fitting reward for a job well done in the regular season. Host sites for the super regional round are determined by pre-tournament national seeding these days. If non-seeded teams advance, the NCAA announces home designations for the final on-campus round at 10AM on Tuesday June 6th.

  • Sizing up the field, as powerful as the sport has seen in recent memory

All 8 National Seeds hail from the SEC and ACC. Six conferences boast half the field. For all the parity in the sport, the power leagues have been as advertised this season. 14 of the 16 host sites were secured by the leagues recognized as four major conferences in college baseball (SEC-5/ACC-5/Big 12-2/Pac 12’2).

A full breakdown of the “Field of 64” is as follows: SEC-11/ACC-8/Big 12-6/Sunbelt-4/ Big 10-3/Pac 12-3.

  • This tournament brings to mind that simplest of truths, one never knows what is yet unknown. 

For all the information worth glancing at and all the data worth combing for trends and nuggets, this is a sport in which anything can happen. On the backside of “play ball,” fans just never know. It is the main reason why, year after year, those who possess a passion for the game return to this hallowed ground.

There is still so much to be determined as the tournament plays out across the next several weeks. What will happen to the favorites? Who will emerge as the surprises? Where will this edition of the tournament discover its heroes? When will it become clear exactly where this season stacks up in the great history of the game? Who will stand supreme when the dust settles on another memorable college baseball journey? 

No sure answers are available until the games actually begin. But, then again, isn’t that the beauty of both life and baseball.

As hope springs eternal upon the often elusive dream of a championship chase, one truth remains. The joy is found in the journey itself. Amidst the twists and turns on the winding road between here and Omaha, lifetime memories come from embracing the unknown.

Just one thing more remains to be said…Play ball!