5 of 8 national seeds move to super regionals

OMAHA, Neb.—Five of the eight national seeds in the NCAA baseball tournament have advanced to super regionals, and the three others were playing winner-take-all regional finals late Monday.

National seeds typically are assured of being on their home field for super regionals, but No. 8 Missouri State will have to play Arkansas on the road because of a stadium scheduling conflict.

Other matchups: Virginia vs. Maryland or No. 1 UCLA; Louisiana-Lafayette vs. No. 2 LSU; Cal State Fullerton vs. No.No 3 Louisville; Florida State vs. No. 4 Florida; Virginia Commonwealth vs. Columbia or No. 5 Miami; defending national champion Vanderbilt vs. No. 6 Illinois; and Texas A&M or California vs. North Carolina State or No. 7 TCU.

The NCAA will announce super-regional sites after regional play Monday night.

Winners of the best-of-three super regionals go to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, starting June 13.

The surprise team so far is Virginia Commonwealth, which became the fifth No. 4 regional seed to reach super regionals since the tournament went to its current format in 1999. The Rams (40-23) lost seven of their first 10 games and finished fourth in the Atlantic 10. They won the conference tournament to gain entry to regionals, where they beat Oregon State and won two of three over host Dallas Baptist. They’re 14-1 in their last 15 games and are in their first super regional.

Virginia, the 2014 national runner-up, and Louisiana-Lafayette reached super regionals for the second straight year, this time as No. 3 regional seeds.

The Cavaliers (37-22) had lost three straight in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament before winning three in a row in the Lake Elsinore Regional. They’ve overcome a season-long run of injuries to make super regionals for the sixth time in seven years.

Lafayette (42-21) went 3-0 in the Houston Regional and has won eight straight.

Illinois (50-8-1) outscored Ohio, Notre Dame and Wright State by a combined 21-7 to make super regionals for the first time. Vanderbilt (45-19) is in the round of 16 for the third straight year and fifth time in six years. The Commodores finished an impressive run through the regional on their home field with a 21-0 victory over Radford on Monday.