Mike Foster (Sports Editor)
Kennesaw State’s baseball team will be available to the media in an hour or so as it concludes practice before its trip to Tallahassee, Fla., to compete in the opening regionals of the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. KSU begins regional play with a Noon game against Alabama on Friday (and can be seen on ESPN3).
The Sentinel will have a few stories from that media time published tomorrow, but for the time being, let’s take a look at the format of the tournament.
64 teams participate in the NCAA tournament, though it’s not a single-elimination, true descending bracket like the NCAA basketball tournament.
30 of the participating teams earned automatic berths in the field by winning their respective conference championships, as KSU did on Sunday. The other 34 teams are at-large selections, picked from a committee based on resume.
The teams are split up into 16, four-team regionals, which are hosted by the No. 1 seeds. KSU will be hosted by Florida State in the Tallahassee Regional at Dick Hoswer Stadium in Tallahassee, Fla.
Opening regional play, which will last Friday through Monday, is double-elimination. There are six games set and a Game 7 scheduled for Monday, if necessary. KSU and the Seminoles will share the regional field with Georgia Southern and Alabama.
The 16 winners of the opening regionals will enter head-to-head super regionals, which are best-of-three series. Those eight winners advance to the NCAA College World Series, which is double-elimination play until the final two teams remain. The final two face off in a best-of-three championship series to determine the national champion.
Here’s NCAA.com’s link to the interactive bracket.
The Tallahassee Regional
No. 3 KSU (37-21) has not received much recognition from national pollsters, but is arguably (almost unarguably) the hottest team in the entire country. The Owls have won an unprecedented 23 of their last 24 games and 19-straight conference contests (15 to finish the regular season and four in the A-Sun tournament). Collegiate Baseball ranks KSU No. 27 in the country, while the Owls have an RPI rating of 57
No. 4 Georgia Southern (39-21) will be KSU’s most familiar opponent. The Eagles are making their 14th appearance in the NCAA regionals after winning the Southern Conference Championship. KSU was swept by the Eagles this season to scores of 3-0 and 9-3. The Eagles own an RPI rating of 90, but have received a vote in the USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
No. 1 Florida State (43-15) is the most well known team in the regional, thanks to Heisman Trophy winner Jameis Winston being the team’s top closer (1.17 ERA, seven saves). The ‘Noles are ranked No. 4 in the RPI and in the top-five in three of the four major human polls
No. 2 Alabama (34-22) is a top-30 team and ranked 22 in the RPI. The Crimson Tide went a modest 15-14 in SEC play and were eliminated in a 7-1 loss to Kentucky in the conference tournament.
Best in State
KSU emerged as one of the three teams in Georgia to qualify for the field of 64. Here’s how the baseball landscape in the state looks heading into nationals. RPI rating precedes the school name. Bold teams are in NCAA field.
- (31) Georgia Tech: 36-25, 14-16 ACC, No. 3 seed in Oxford Regional, qualified for NCAA regionals with automatic berth via ACC tournament title. Highest ranking is 25 by Baseball America.
- (46) Mercer: 38-17, 18-9 A-Sun, just missed at-large berth after being eliminated from A-Sun tournament. No longer receiving votes from any major polls.
- (57) KSU: 37-21, 17-9 A-Sun, No. 3 seed in Tallahassee Regional, qualified for NCAA regionals with automatic berth via A-Sun tournament title. Highest ranking is 27 by Collegiate Baseball.
- (58) Georgia: 26-29-1, 11-17-1 SEC, unranked in all major polls.
- (90) Georgia Southern: 39-21, 15-12 SoCon, No. 4 seed in Tallahassee Regional, qualified for NCAA regionals with automatic berth via SoCon tournament title. Highest ranking is at least one vote in USA Today Coaches’ Poll.
- (170) Georgia State: 25-31, 11-19 Sun Belt.
- (N/A) Savannah State: 22-31, 11-13 MEAC.
Make sure to check back here at The Sentinel’s website tomorrow for feature stories on KSU’s baseball team as it heads to Tallahassee.
