The NCAA Baseball Tournament’s 5 Most Interesting Regionals

The stage is set, and each of the roads to Omaha for the College World Series are clear. But some of these roads feature a little better scenery than others.

Here is our list of the the NCAA baseball tournament’s 5 most interesting regionals.

Lake Elsinore Regional

This regional is interesting for so many reasons. The host school, UC Santa Barbara, is about a three and a half hour drive from the Lake Elsinore Diamond, which usually serves as the home of the Class-A Lake Elsinore Storm.

The pitching in this regional is also pretty insane, highlighted by the top rated hurler in the coming MLB draft, UCSB’s own Dillon Tate. But Tate isn’t the only star in the Gaucho’s rotation, with lefty Justin Lacome holding down the number two spot. And the host school might not even have the best one-two punch, with No. 3 seed Virginia bringing lefthander Nathan Kirby, and righty Conner Jones, both potential first rounders once eligible.

Lastly, the program with the most NCAA baseball championships in history, USC, makes it’s triumphant return to the postseason for the first time in a decade. The No. 2 seed will bring along it’s own left-right combo, featuring a pair of Kyles, Twomey and Davis.

Gainesville Regional

Talk about backyard baseball. Aside from hosting another set of stellar pitching matchups, there is a chance the winner of this regional won’t even play a team from outside the Sunshine State until the second round in Omaha. This is because the Gainesville Regional is stacked with nothing but teams with Florida in their name; Florida, Florida Atlantic, South Florida, and Florida A&M.

The winner of this regional would then go on to play the winner of the Tallahassee Regional, in which host school Florida State is the current favorite. Once making their way to Omaha, they would then face off against the winner of the Coral Gables/Dallas portion of the bracket, which features Miami (as the favorite) and FIU as a fourth seed.

Now this whole scenario is a stretch, but we’ve seen stranger things in College baseball.

Coral Gables Regional

Enough of this pitching nonsense. If you want to see fireworks, I suggest you catch as many at-bats from the Coral Gables Regional as possible. These teams combined for 193 home runs this season, and Mark Light Field seems to have trouble keeping baseballs inside its walls.

Of particular interest should be Miami’s David Thompson (19 HRs) and his teammate, Zack Collins (15 HRs). But it isn’t just the host team that will feel at home. No. 4 seed, FIU, is located just 20 minutes away from the stadium, and junior Edwin Rios (18 HRs) knows his way around the plate.

ECU and Columbia, who make their second trip to a Coral Gables Regional, should also get in on the unofficial home run derby. During their Friday matchup, you may want to keep an eye on ECU’s Luke Lowery (12 HRs), and Columbia’s Joe Falcone (11 HRs).

Fullerton Regional

This regional should be great from a pure matchup standpoint. Cal State Fullerton may be the No. 1 seed, but Arizona State could have easily been awarded their own regional, and not many people would have had an objection. Throw in an excellent defensive squad in Clemson, and a Pepperdine team that’s already proven they can hang with Fullerton on the diamond, and this regional might be the best one of all.

The only downside would be that Fullerton isn’t 100%. Despite fielding a rockstar in Thomas Eshelman (1.57 ERA), the Titans will be without Justin Garza (3.05 ERA). That leaves the door wide open for the Arizona State Wildcats and their trio of Brett Lilek (3.29 ERA), Ryan Kellogg (3.67 ERA), and Ryan Burr (3.24 ERA) to take the bracket.

Baton Rouge Regional

I may sound a little biased picking this one, but the most interesting matchup in this corner of the bracket won’t even involve the No. 2 national seed LSU Tigers. I’m looking forward to Friday’s pairing of 2 seed UNC Wilmington and 3 seed Tulane. This is a matchup of one of the nation’s top 11 teams in batting average, against a Tulane squad with a 3.13 team ERA. Add in the fact that Tulane always travels well, especially to Alex Box Stadium, and this could be a great showdown.

You can also expect this to once again be the most heavily attended regional in the country, as LSU will likely surpass 10,000 in paid attendance for multiple games. It’s always a great atmosphere in Baton Rouge, especially during post-season baseball.

 

You can view the full College World Series bracket at NCAA.com.