Florida receives top seed
Record 4 SEC teams will be regional hosts
OMAHA, Neb. — Florida will have to break the curse of the No. 1 seed to win its first national championship in baseball.
The Gators were awarded the top seed Monday in the NCAA baseball tournament, leading a record four Southeastern Conference teams among the eight national seeds. Florida (47-13) was ranked No. 1 in the polls for most of the season and finished runner-up to Texas A&M in the SEC tournament.
The Gators have been a national seed seven times under coach Kevin O’Sullivan, including No. 1 in 2012. No top seed has won the championship since Miami in 1999, the first year of the current tournament structure.
The other SEC national seeds are No. 4 Texas A&M (41-16), No. 6 Mississippi State (41-16-1) and No. 8 LSU (42-18).
The ACC has three national seeds in No. 2 Louisville (47-12), No. 3 Miami (45-11) and No. 7 Clemson (4218). The Big 12 has the other national seed in Texas Tech (41-16)
The SEC also set a record when the NCAA selection committee picked seven teams to play host to regionals. Six ACC teams will host regionals, including defending national champion Virginia (37-20).
The 16 regionals are Friday-Monday and include four teams playing a double-elimination format. Regional winners advance the following week to best-of-three super regionals, which will determine the eight teams moving on to the College World Series beginning June 18in Omaha.
The 64-team field is made up of 31 automatic qualifiers and 33 at-large selections.
Ten ACC teams are in the tournament, tying the record for most from one conference.
“I’ve never seen a league as strong as this year,” 37th-year Florida State coach Mike Martin said. “Ten teams is quite an accomplishment.”
North Carolina nearly gave the ACC an 11th entry. At No. 19, the Tar Heels (34-21) have the highest Ratings Percentage Index ranking of any team ever snubbed. The RPI is one of several metrics the selection committee uses to determine at-large teams.
Selection committee chairman Joel Erdmann said the Tar Heels were the first team left out after an 182 start with a 16-19 finish and fifth-