Last week, the selection committee announced the field of 64 for the 2022 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 are a few takeaways on that front:
- The field this year includes 31 automatic bids via conference championships and 33 at-large entrants. The first round of play is known as the regional, and it’s double-elimination format. Each of the 16 No. 1 seeds hosts its respective four-team regional, when possible. Each of the 16 regionals are 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, 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 they are for this year, ranked in order with their regular-season record:
- Tennessee, 53-7
- Stanford, 40-14
- Oregon State, 44-14
- Virginia Tech, 41-12
- Texas A&M, 37-18
- Miami-FL, 39-18
- Oklahoma State, 39-20
- East Carolina, 42-18
If a national seed wins its region, then it hosts the super regional when possible. Otherwise, the sites of the super regionals will be announced after the regional round concludes.
And now for the full field. Regional play gets underway on Friday, June 3. Now here are the match-ups for all 16 regionals — a reminder that each region is seeded one through four and is hosted by one of the 16 national seeds.
NCAA baseball tournament schedule
- Regionals: Starts Friday, June 3; ends Monday, June 6
- Super Regionals: Starts Friday, June 10; ends Monday, June 13
- College World Series opener: Friday, June 17
- College World Series Finals (best of 3): Starts Saturday, June 25
Complete bracket
And here’s a link to NCAA.com’s full bracket, which includes region vs. region pairings for the super regionals.
Knoxville Regional
Hosted by No. 1 national seed Tennessee.
Friday, June 3
- Campbell 15, Georgia Tech 8
- Tennessee 10, Alabama State 0
Saturday, June 4
- Georgia Tech 13, Alabama State 4 (Alabama State eliminated)
- Tennessee 12, Campbell 7
Sunday, June 5
- Georgia Tech 16, Campbell 5 (Campbell eliminated)
- Tennessee 9, Georgia Tech 6 (Tennessee advances, Georgia Tech eliminated)
Auburn Regional
Hosted by No. 14 national seed Auburn.
Friday, June 3
- Florida St. 5, UCLA 3
- Auburn 19, Southeastern La. 7
Saturday, June 4
- UCLA 16, Southeastern La. 2 (Southeastern La. eliminated)
- Auburn 21, Florida St. 7
Sunday, June 5
- UCLA 2, Florida State 1 (Florida State eliminated)
Blacksburg Regional
Hosted by No. 4 national seed Virginia Tech.
Friday, June 3
- Columbia 8, Gonzaga 2
- Virginia Tech 15, Wright State 9
Saturday, June 4
- Gonzaga 11, Wright State 9 (Wright State eliminated)
- Virginia Tech 24, Columbia 4
Sunday, June 5
- Columbia 15, Gonzaga 6 (Gonzaga eliminated)
- Virginia Tech 7, Columbia 2 (Virginia Tech advances, Columbia eliminated)
Stillwater Regional
Hosted by No. 7 national seed Oklahoma State.
Friday, June 3
- Arkansas 7, Grand Canyon 1
- Oklahoma State 10, Missouri State 5
Saturday, June 4
- Missouri State 8, Grand Canyon 7 (Grand Canyon eliminated)
- Arkansas 20, Oklahoma State 12
Sunday, June 5
- Oklahoma State 29, Missouri State 15 (Missouri State eliminated)
- Oklahoma State 14, Arkansas 10
Greenville Regional
Hosted by No. 8 national seed East Carolina.
Friday, June 3
- East Carolina 17, Coppin State 1
- Virginia 7, Coastal Carolina 2
Saturday, June 4
- Coastal Carolina 10, Coppin State 8 (Coppin State eliminated)
- East Carolina 4, Virginia 2
Sunday, June 5
- Coastal Carolina 7, Virginia 6 (Virginia eliminated)
- Coastal Carolina 9, East Carolina 1
Gainesville Regional
Hosted by No. 13 national seed Florida.
Friday, June 3
- Oklahoma 16, Liberty 3
- Florida 7, Central Michigan 3
Saturday, June 4
- Central Michigan 3, Liberty 2 (Liberty eliminated)
- Oklahoma 9, Florida 4
Sunday, June 5
- Florida 6, Central Michigan 5 (Central Michigan eliminated)
- Florida 7, Oklahoma 2
College Park Regional
Hosted by No. 15 national seed Maryland.
Friday, June 3
- UConn 8, Wake Forest 7
- Maryland 23, Long Island 2
Saturday, June 4
- Wake Forest 10, Long Island 4 (Long Island eliminated)
- UConn 10, Maryland 5
Sunday, June 5
- Maryland 10, Wake Forest 5 (Wake Forest eliminated)
- Maryland 7, UConn 6
College Station Regional
Hosted by No. 5 national seed Texas A&M.
Friday, June 3
- Texas A&M 8, Oral Roberts 2
- Louisiana 7, TCU 6
Saturday, June 4
- TCU 3, Oral Roberts 1 (Oral Roberts eliminated)
- Texas A&M 9, Louisiana 6
Sunday, June 5
- TCU 6, Louisiana 1 (Louisiana eliminated)
Austin Regional
Hosted by No. 9 national seed Texas.
Friday, June 3
- Texas 11, Air Force 3
- Louisiana Tech 12, Dallas Baptist 5
Saturday, June 4
- Air Force 5, Dallas Baptist 1 (Dallas Baptist eliminated)
- Texas 5, Louisiana Tech 2
Sunday, June 5
- Air Force 9, Louisiana Tech 7
- Texas 10, Air Force 1 (Texas advances, Air Force eliminated)
Chapel Hill Regional
Hosted by No. 10 national seed North Carolina.
Friday, June 3
- North Carolina 15, Hofstra 4
- VCU 8, Georgia 1
Saturday, June 4
- Georgia 24, Hofstra 1 (Hofstra eliminated)
- VCU 4, North Carolina 3
Sunday, June 5
- North Carolina 6, Georgia 5 (Georgia eliminated)
- North Carolina 19, VCU 8
Hattiesburg Regional
Hosted by No. 11 national seed Southern Mississippi.
Friday, June 3
- Southern Miss. 2, Army 0
- LSU 14, Kennesaw State 11
Saturday, June 4
- Kennesaw State 9, Army 8 (Army eliminated)
- LSU 7, Southern Miss 6
Sunday, June 5
- Southern Miss 4, Kennesaw State 3 (Kennesaw State eliminated)
- Southern Miss 8, LSU 4
Louisville Regional
Hosted by No. 12 national seed Louisville.
Friday, June 3
- Louisville 7, Southeast Missouri State 2
- Michigan 8, Oregon 6
Saturday, June 4
- Oregon 18, Southeast Missouri State 6 (Southeast Missouri State eliminated)
- Michigan 7, Louisville 3
Sunday, June 5
- Louisville 8, Oregon 5 (Oregon eliminated)
- Louisville 20, Michigan 1
Statesboro Regional
Hosted by No. 16 national seed Georgia Southern.
Friday, June 3
- Notre Dame 3, Texas Tech 2
Saturday, June 4
- Georgia Southern 8, UNC Greensboro 0
- Texas Tech 2, UNC Greensboro 0 (UNC Greensboro eliminated)
- Notre Dame 6, Georgia Southern 4
Sunday, June 5
- Texas Tech 3, Georgia Southern 1 (Georgia Southern eliminated)
- Notre Dame 2, Texas Tech 1 (Notre Dame advances, Texas Tech eliminated)
Stanford Regional
Hosted by No. 2 national seed Stanford.
Friday, June 3
- Stanford 20, Binghamton 7
- Texas State 7, UC-Santa Barbara 3
Saturday, June 4
- UC-Santa Barbara 9, Binghamton 4 (Binghamton eliminated)
- Texas State 5, Stanford 2
Sunday, June 5
- Stanford 8, UC-Santa Barbara 4 (UCSB eliminated)
Corvallis Regional
Hosted by No. 3 national seed Oregon State.
Friday, June 3
- Oregon State 5, New Mexico State 4 (F/10)
- San Diego 3, Vanderbilt 2
Saturday, June 4
- Vanderbilt 21, New Mexico State 1 (New Mexico State eliminated)
- Oregon State 12, San Diego 3
Sunday, June 5
- Vanderbilt 14, San Diego 4 (San Diego eliminated)
Coral Gables Regional
Hosted by No. 6 national seed Miami-FL. Games in Miami were postponed from Friday to Saturday due to a Tropical Storm Warning in the region.
Saturday, June 4
- Miami 11, Canisius 6
- Ole Miss 7, Arizona 4
Sunday, June 5
- Arizona 7, Canisius 5 (Canisius eliminated)
- Ole Miss 2, Miami 1
- Arizona 4, Miami 3 (Miami eliminated)
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 Mississippi State (26-30) 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 is making its record 44th straight appearance in the NCAA tournament.
- This year’s field includes two teams making first-ever tourney appearances — Coppin State and Hofstra.
- At the conference level, the SEC and ACC lead all comers with nine bids apiece.
- Next in line is the Big 12 and Pac-12 with five bids apiece.
All of the above leads up to the College World Series at Omaha’s Charles Schwab Field, which gets underway on Friday, June 17. So who ya got?
KVSP