On Monday, the selection committee announced the field of 64 for the 2022 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, which we will announce in a moment. Before you enter, you should know that the structure of the NCAA Baseball Tournament is a little different from the more familiar hoop variant.
Here are some points to take in this regard:
- This year’s field includes 31 automatic offers through conference championships and 33 general participants. The first round of play is known as regional, and is a double elimination format. Each of the 16 No. 1 seeded hosts hosts their respective four-team regional, where possible. Each of the 16 regionals is ranked from one to four. In each region, number 1 faces number 4, and number 2 faces number 3 on the first day of action. The winners of these two games play each other, while the losers play an elimination game.
- The winner of each regional goes to the super-regional. The super-regional, which includes a total of 16 teams, is a standard format in the best of three.
- The winners of the super regionals – eight teams in total – advance to the University World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
- The College World Series is a double elimination format until the last two teams stand. At this point, the blackboards are cleared, and it is a series of the best of three to determine the national champion.
The 64 field also includes eight national seedings, which you can consider favorites before the tournament to get to 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 superregional when possible. Otherwise, the places of the super regionals will be announced after the end of the regional round.
And now for the whole field. The regional game kicks off on Friday, June 3rd. Now here are the clashes for the 16 regionals; remember that each region is a series leader from one to four and is hosted by one of the 16 national series.
Knoxville Regional
Host for Tennessee No. 1 National Seed
- # 1 Tennessee (53-7) vs. # 4 Alabama State (34-23)
- # 2 Georgia Tech (34-22) vs. # 3 Campbell (40-17)
Stanford Regional
Hosted by Stanford, the No. 2 national seed
- # 1 Stanford (41-14) vs. # 4 Binghamton (22-28)
- # 2 Texas State (45-12) vs. # 3 UC-Santa Barbara (43-12)
Corvallis Regional
Organized by the No. 3 National Seed of the State of Oregon
- # 1 Oregon St. (44-15) vs. # 4 State of New Mexico (24-32)
- # 2 Vanderbilt (36-21) vs. # 3 San Diego (36-18)
Blacksburg Regional
Host by National Seed No. 4, Virginia Tech
- Virginia Tech No. 1 (41-12) vs. Wright State No. 4 (30-25)
- # 2 Gonzaga (36-17) vs. # 3 Columbia (30-16)
College Station Regional
Hosted by Texas A&M No. 5 National Seed
- # 1 Texas A&M (37-18) vs. # 4 Oral Roberts (38-18)
- # 2 TCU (36-20) vs. # 3 Louisiana (36-21)
Coral Gables Regional
Host by National Series Chief No. 6 Miami-FL
- # 1 Miami (FL) (39-18) vs. # 4 Canisius (29-23)
- # 2 Arizona (37-23) vs. # 3 Ole Miss (32-22)
Stillwater region
Host for Oklahoma State No. 7 National Seed
- # 1 State of Oklahoma (39-20) vs. # 4 State of Missouri (30-27)
- # 2 Arkansas (38-18) vs. # 3 Grand Canyon (41-19)
Greenville Regional
Host for East Carolina’s No. 8 National Seed
- # 1 East Carolina (42-18) vs. # 4 Coppin State (24-28)
- # 2 Virginia (38-17) vs. # 3 Carolina Coast (36-18-1)
Austin Regional
Hosted by Texas National No. 9 seed
- Texas No. 1 (42-19) vs. Air Force Number 4 (30-27)
- # 2 Louisiana Tech (42-19) vs. # 3 Dallas Baptist (34-22-1),
Chapel Hill Regional
Host for North Carolina’s No. 10 National Seed
- # 1 North Carolina (38-19) vs. # 4 Hofstra (30-21)
- # 2 Georgia (35-21) vs. # 3 VCU (40-18)
Hattiesburg Regional
Hosted by National Seed No. 11 South Mississippi
- South message no. 1 (43-16) vs. Army No. 4 (31-23)
- # 2 LSU (38-20) vs. # 3 Kennesaw State (35-26)
Louisville Regional
Hosted by Louisville, the 12th national seed
- Louisville No. 1 (38-18-1) vs. 4 Southeast Missouri (37-20)
- # 2 Oregon (35-23) vs. # 3 Michigan (32-26)
Gainesville Regional
Hosted by Florida’s No. 13 national seed
- # 1 Florida (39-22) vs. # 4 Central Michigan (42-17)
- # 2 Oklahoma (37-20) vs. # 3 Liberty (37-21)
Auburn Regional
Host for National Seed No. 14, Auburn
- # 1 Auburn (37-19) vs. # 4 Southeastern La. (30-29)
- # 2 UCLA (38-22) vs. # 3 Florida St. (33-23)
College Park Regional
Host for Maryland No. 15 National Seed
- Maryland No. 1 (45-12) vs. Long Island No. 4 (37-19)
- # 2 Wake Forest (40-17-1) vs. # 3 UConn (46-13)
Statesboro Regional
Hosted by Georgia Southern’s No. 16 national seed
- # 1 vs. Georgia Southern (40-18) # 4 UNC-Greensboro (34-28)
- # 2 Notre Dame (35-14) vs. # 3 Texas Tech (37-20)
And here’s a link to the full NCAA.com parenthesis, which includes region-to-region pairings for superregions.
Now for some quick things to take to the 64-team field described above:
- This year there will be no replay, as the current national champion Mississippi State (26-30) did not receive any nominations. No team has repeated as Division I national champions since South Carolina in 2010 and 2011.
- The state of Florida is making its 44th consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
- This year’s field includes two teams making their first appearance in the tournament: Coppin State and Hofstra.
- At the conference level, the SEC and ACC lead all participants with nine bids each.
- Next on the line is the Big 12 and the Pac-12 with five deals each.
All of the above leads to the University World Series at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, which will begin on Friday, June 17th. So who do you have?