College Baseball Update

The field for the NCAA Baseball Tournament was announced today, and the Kentucky Wildcats are not happy. Despite being ranked in the top 10 by Baseball America for much of the season, and ending the regular season with the number 11 ranking, the Big Blue were not chosen as one of the 16 hosts of regional play. Instead, the Cats are going to Gary, Indiana, where Purdue will be their host. If the Cats survive that regional tournament, they will play the winner of the Eugene Regional for a trip to Omaha.

The Cats were treated better than Utah Valley -- which went 47-12 to lead the nation in wins, but was left out of the field altogether. UK also got a better draw than Vandy, which cannot go to the College World Series unless it beats Florida -- the number one overall seed -- in the super-regionals.

North Carolina, of course, got its usual sweetheart draw -- the Heels are the only non-SEC team that are guaranteed a chance to qualify for the College World Series without leaving home and without playing a team from the SEC. I guess we should just be happy that Duke isn't good at baseball.

Listed below are the sixteen regionals, with the participants listed in seed order. The top eight national seeds are in bold, with their national seed in parentheses. Each regional tournament is a double-elimination tournament to be played next weekend. The 16 regional winners will move on to the super-regionals, where two teams will meet in a best two of three playoff. The eight super-regional winners will qualify for the College World Series.

GAINESVILLE REGIONAL
1. Florida (1)
2. Georgia Tech
3. Charleston
4. Bethune-Cookman

RALEIGH REGIONAL
1. N. Carolina St.
2. Vanderbilt
3. UNC-Wilmington
4. Sacred Heart

CHARLOTTESVILLE REGIONAL
1. Virginia
2. Oklahoma
3. Appalachian St.
4. Army

COLUMBIA REGIONAL
1. S. Carolina (8)
2. Clemson
3. Coastal Carolina
4. Manhattan

EUGENE REGIONAL
1. Oregon (5)
2. Cal-State Fullerton
3. Indiana St.
4. Austin Peay

GARY REGIONAL
1. Purdue
2. Kentucky
3. Kent St.
4. Valparaiso

HOUSTON REGIONAL
1. Rice
2. Arkansas
3. Sam Houston St.
4. Prairie View

WACO REGIONAL
1. Baylor (4)
2. Dallas Baptist
3. UT-Arlington (future Sun Belt member)
4. Oral Roberts

LOS ANGELES REGIONAL
1. UCLA (2)
2. San Diego
3. New Mexico
4. Creighton

COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL
1. Texas A & M
2. Texas Christian
3. Mississippi
4. Dayton

CORAL GABLES REGIONAL
1. Miami (Fla.)
2. Cent. Florida
3. Missouri St.
4. Stony Brook

BATON ROUGE REGIONAL
1. Lousiana St. (7)
2. Oregon St.
3. Belmont
4. La-Monroe

CHAPEL HILL REGIONAL
1. N. Carolina (6)
2. E. Carolina
3. St. John's
4. Cornell

TUCSON REGIONAL
1. Arizona
2. New Mexico St.
3. Louisville
4. Missouri

PALO ALTO REGIONAL
1. Stanford
2. Pepperdine
3. Michigan St.
4. Fresno St.

TALLAHASSEE REGIONAL
1. Florida St. (3)
2. Mississippi St.
3. Samford
4. Ala-Birmingham