WVU Kicked Out of Hosting Position for NCAA Tournament Following Recent Struggles

A regional in Morgantown can still happen, but the Mountaineers have to take care of business this week in Arlington.

West Virginia University starting pitcher Griffin Kirn. | Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

It should come as no surprise that the West Virginia Mountaineers are no longer projected to host a regional after dropping two of three to Kansas State and then getting swept by Kansas to close out the regular season.

D1Baseball currently has the Mountaineers pegged as a No. 2 seed in the Tallahassee region, where they would square off with No. 3 Mississippi State to open. Florida State and Bethune-Cookman would be the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds in that region.

All hope for a regional at Kendrick Family Ballpark is not lost, however. If WVU were to go on and win the Big 12 Conference tournament, they would be firmly in the mix, especially if others on the bubble of hosting don't make as much noise.

"There are three new Top 16 seeds this week — Alabama, NC State and West Virginia dropped out, while Clemson, Southern Miss and Georgia Tech entered the mix. Alabama and West Virginia could get right back into the discussion with strong showings at their conference tournaments, while NC State needs some RPI help to get back into the discussion."

West Virginia will await the winner of No. 8 Cincinnati and No. 9 Texas Tech, who square off tonight in Arlington. First pitch between the Mountaineers and Bearcats/Red Raiders is set for 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+.

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