Play ball! Things to know about NCAA baseball regionals
OMAHA, NEB. (AP) » The NCAA baseball tournament opens Friday with play in 16 double-elimination regionals. Regional winners advance to best-of-three super regionals next week, and the final eight go to the College World Series in Omaha beginning June 19. Some of the top story lines: WHO’S HOT
East Carolina (42-18) is on an 18-game win streak that’s the nation’s longest and one shy of the program and American Athletic Conference records. The Pirates own the dubious distinction of having the most NCAA Tournament appearances (31) without making a CWS.
At No. 8 overall, they earned their highest seed since 2001 and did it after losing top MLB pitching prospect Carson Whisenhunt to a season-long suspension and with weekend starter Jake Kuchmaner missing six weeks because of injury.
Stanford (41-14) carries a 16-game win streak into the tournament and VCU (4018) has won 15 in a row. WHO’S NOT Arkansas (38-18), the No. 1 overall seed last year, has lost four straight. Vanderbilt (36-21), the 2021 national runner-up, has lost five of its last six. Virginia (38-17), which lost seven of eight during an April stretch, has dropped five of its last seven.
THE TOTAL PACKAGE No. 1 overall seed Tennessee leads the nation with 141 homers, the most since Missouri State hit 144 in 1999,
and their .604 slugging percentage is highest since College of Charleston’s .607 in 2008.
Tennessee’s 2.35 ERA is the best since Oregon State’s 1.93 in 2017, and Chase Dollander’s 0.72 walks and hits per nine innings is lowest since Nick Sandlin of Southern Mississippi had a 0.71 in 2018.
No team since UCLA in 2013 has gone through the tournament unbeaten. If the Volunteers (53-7) were to do that, and finish 637, they would be the sixth team all-time with a season winning percentage of .900 or better. TOUGHEST REGIONAL The Gainesville Regional stacks up as the toughest.
Florida (39-22) won four
straight to reach the SEC Tournament championship game to put itself in position to host. Oklahoma (37-20) is the Big 12 Tournament champion after tying for second in the regular season.
Liberty (37-21) won two of three in Gainesville to open the season. Central Michigan (42-17) has the most wins among No. 4 regional seeds.
IVAN THE TERRIFIC Big 12 player of the year Ivan Melendez has put up some of the best offensive numbers in Texas program history. The junior first baseman leads the nation in slugging (.903), is tied for first in home runs (29), is second in RBIs (87), fourth in on-base percentage
(.522), and seventh in batting average (.406). SONNY SHINES Auburn’s Sonny DiChiara had no problem adjusting to the SEC after transferring from Samford. The senior first baseman is the conference co-player of the year, raised his batting average over 100 points to .379 and has hit 18 homers for the second straight year. His .556 on-base percentage ranks second nationally. UNDER THE RADAR Campbell’s Thomas Harrington will step into the national spotlight after dominating the Big South. The sophomore leads the nation with 11 wins, has a 1.72 ERA and has struck out 105 against 15 walks in 78 1/3 innings.