On Monday, the selection committee announced the field of 64 for the 2023 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, which we'll unveil in a moment. Before we jump in, you should know that the structure of the NCAA Baseball Tournament is a bit different from the more familiar hoops variant.
Here's what you need to know on that front:
The first round of play is known as the regional and it's a round-robin, double-elimination format. Each of the 16 No. 1 seeds hosts its respective four-team regional, when possible. Each of the 16 regionals is seeded one through four. In each region, No. 1 faces No. 4, and No. 2 faces No. 3 on the first day of action. The winners of those two games then play each other, while the losers play an elimination game.The winner of each regional advances to the super regional. The super regional, which includes a total of 16 teams, is a best-of-three series format.The winners of the super regionals -- eight teams in all -- advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.The College World Series is a double-elimination format until the final two teams are left standing. At that point, the slates are wiped clean and it's a best-of-three series to determine the national champion.The field of 64 also includes eight national seeds, which you may consider the pre-tourney favorites to reach Omaha. Here are this year's eight national seeds:
Wake Forest (47-10)Florida (44-14)Arkansas (41-16)Clemson (43-17)LSU (43-15)Vanderbilt (41-18)Virginia (45-12)Stanford (38-16)If a national seed wins its regional, then it hosts the super regional when possible. Otherwise, the sites of the super regionals will be announced after the regional round concludes. Regional play gets underway on Friday, June 2. Now, here are the matchups for all 16 regionals -- reminder that each region is seeded one through four and is hosted by one of the 16 national seeds.
Winston-Salem Regional
Hosted by No. 1 national seed Wake Forest.
No. 1 Wake Forest (47-10) vs. No. 4 George Mason (34-25)No. 2 Maryland (41-19) vs. No. 3 Northeastern (44-14)Gainesville Regional
Hosted by No. 2 national seed Florida.
No. 1 Florida (44-14) vs. No. 4 Florida A&M (29-28)No. 2 UConn (43-15) vs. No. 3 Texas Tech (39-21)Fayetteville Regional
Hosted by No. 3 national seed Arkansas.
No. 1 Arkansas (41-16) vs. No. 4 Santa Clara (35-18)No. 2 TCU (37-22) vs. No. 3 Arizona (33-24)Clemson Regional
Hosted by No. 4 national seed Clemson.
No. 1 Clemson (43-17) vs. No. 4 Lipscomb (36-24)No. 2 Tennessee (38-19) vs. No. 3 Charlotte (34-26)Baton Rouge Regional
Hosted by No. 5 national seed LSU.
No. 1 LSU (43-15) vs. No. 4 Tulane (19-40)No. 2 Oregon State (39-18) vs. No. 3 Sam Houston State (38-23)Nashville Regional
Hosted by No. 6 national seed Vanderbilt.
No. 1 Vanderbilt (41-18) vs. No. 4 Eastern Illinois (34-20)No. 2 Oregon (37-20) vs. No. 3 Xavier (37-23)Charlottesville Regional
Hosted by No. 7 national seed Virginia.
No. 1 Virginia (45-12) vs. No. 4 Army West Point (38-16)No. 2 East Carolina (45-17) vs. No. 4 Oklahoma (31-26)Stanford Regional
Hosted by No. 8 national seed Stanford.
No. 1 Stanford (38-16) vs. No. 4 San Jose State (31-25)No. 2 Texas A&M (36-25) vs. No. 3 Cal State Fullerton (31-22)Coral Gables Regional
Hosted by No. 9 national seed Miami.
No. 1 Miami (40-19) vs. No. 4 Maine (31-19)No. 2 Texas (38-20) vs. No. 3 Louisiana (40-22)Conway Regional
Hosted by No. 10 national seed Coastal Carolina.
No. 1 Coastal Carolina (39-19) vs. No. 4 Rider (35-19)No. 2 Duke (35-21) vs. No. 4 UNC Wilmington (34-21)Stillwater Regional
Hosted by No. 11 national seed Oklahoma State.
No. 1 Oklahoma State (41-18) vs. No. 4 Oral Roberts (46-11)No. 2 Dallas Baptist (45-14) vs. No. 3 Washington (34-18)Lexington Regional
Hosted by No. 12 national seed Kentucky.
No. 1 Kentucky (36-18) vs. No. 4 Ball State (36-21)No. 2 West Virginia (39-18) vs. No. 3 Indiana (41-18)Auburn Regional
Hosted by No. 13 national seed Auburn.
No. 1 Auburn (34-21-1) vs. No. 4 Penn (32-14)No. 2 Southern Miss (41-17) vs. No. 3 Samford (36-23)Terre Haute Regional
Hosted by No. 14 national seed Indiana State.
No. 1 Indiana State (42-15) vs. No. 4 Wright State (39-21)No. 2 Iowa (38-14) vs. No. 3 North Carolina (35-22)Columbia Regional
Hosted by No. 15 national seed South Carolina.
No. 1 South Carolina (39-19) vs. No. 4 Central Connecticut (36-12)No. 2 Campbell (44-13) vs. No. 3 NC State (35-19)Tuscaloosa Regional
Hosted by No. 16 national seed Alabama.
No. 1 Alabama (40-19) vs. No. 4 Nicholls (32-22)No. 2 Boston College (35-18) vs. No. 3 Troy (39-20)Here's a link to NCAA.com's full bracket, which includes region vs. region pairings for the super regionals. Now for some quick hit takeaways on the 64-team field laid out above:
There will be no repeat this year, as reigning national champion Ole Miss (25-29) did not receive a bid. No team has repeated as national champions at the Division I level since South Carolina in 2010 and 2011.Florida State (23-31) finished with a losing record for the first time ever and missed the postseason for the first time since 1977. Their 44 straight tournament appearances are a record.
Listed alphabetically, the last four teams in were Arizona, Louisiana, Oklahoma State, and Troy. The first four teams out were Arizona State, Kansas State, Kent State, and UC Irvine.The SEC will host a record eight regionals. The state of South Carolina will host three regionals while, for the first time since 2013, the state of Texas will host zero.
All of the above leads up to the College World Series at Omaha's Charles Schwab Field, which gets underway on Thursday, June 15. So who ya got?
