Winners and Losers From College Baseball’s NCAA Tournament Regionals

Just 16 teams remain in the zany bracket.

Roch Cholowsky led UCLA to the Men’s College World Series last year, but this year was a different story. | Steven Branscombe-Imagn Images

The NCAA baseball and softball tournaments are unique animals: where the CFP and basketball tournaments drive toward straightforward conclusions, the bat-and-ball brackets weave their way forward in labyrinthine fashion.

Teams in the double-elimination field lose a game, double back to course correct, and advance to another round where they are, yet again, allowed to lose a game. Four-team regionals become two-team super regionals become the eight-team College World Series. Nothing moves in a straight line.

Fortunately, we’re here to demystify a thrilling weekend of baseball to start the NCAA tournament. Here are three winners and three losers as the road to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb., begins.

Winner: USC, back where it belongs

What if I told you the Trojans—winners of 12 national championships, breeding ground for Randy Johnson and Mark McGwire and Tom Seaver—have not been to the MCWS since 2001? USC is a step closer after blowing out Texas A&M twice to reach its first super regional in two decades. The Trojans put themselves behind the eight-ball with an early loss to Texas State, but buried Lamar, the Bobcats and the Aggies twice to set up a super regional showdown with North Carolina. USC is hitting .281 as a team and boasts two first-team All-Big Ten pitchers in Mason Edwards Jr. and Grant Govel.

Loser: UCLA

Across Los Angeles, the Bruins barreled to a 51-6 regular season before running into an unexpected buzzsaw. First, Saint Mary’s—a No. 3 seed who went 34-25 in the regular season—shocked UCLA 3–2 to start the tournament. The Bruins recovered to top Virginia Tech 6–5 in their second game, before losing again to the Gaels 6–5 in 10 innings. Saint Mary’s coach Eric Valenzuela referred to the second game as “12 rounds with the heavyweight champion of the world,” and the Gaels seemed spent as they bowed out in the regional final to Cal Poly. Soul searching is afoot for UCLA, which reached the MCWS last year.

Winner: St. John’s, the best baseball team in Queens

The Red Storm are known mostly for basketball, but that obscures a rich baseball history: six MCWS appearances, six conference tournament titles this century and All-Stars such as Joe Panik and Frank Viola. This year, St. John’s popped into the field at 33-24 and did serious damage. The Red Storm upended No. 1 Florida State, hammered Northern Illinois 21–8, and knocked out the Seminoles for good Monday behind a grand slam from catcher Adam Agresti. Next up for St. John’s: Alabama, which won its home regional undefeated.

Loser: The ACC

A conference that put nine teams in the field saw its squads struggle up and down the bracket. No team’s flop loomed larger than Georgia Tech’s, as the 48-9 Yellow Jackets beat Oklahoma 9–3 before losing twice to the Sooners and bowing out. The Seminoles’ exit smarted, while three other teams were knocked out by seeding underdogs (Boston College by Liberty, Miami by Troy, Virginia by Jacksonville State). The Tar Heels will carry the flag for the eternally beleaguered conference after gliding through their home regional.

Winner: Gardening gloves

The unofficial award for most interesting attire of the regional round went to Zach Hunt, the first baseman for the Citadel. In a nail-biting elimination game against Illinois-Chicago, Hunt strode to the plate wearing gardening gloves as batting gloves—and promptly delivered a walk-off two-run single. “These feel awesome in my hands. That’s just been my thing for the past couple of years,” Hunt told Scott Eisberg of WCIV-TV in Charleston, S.C. The Bulldogs lost to Oklahoma in an elimination game, but may have planted a seed for years to come.

Loser: Tennessee post-Tony Vitello, at least in the short term

Few college baseball coaching moves have stunned like Vitello’s departure from the Volunteers for Major League Baseball’s Giants on Oct. 22. Tennessee replaced the larger-than-life personality with longtime assistant Josh Elander, and Elander acquired the dubious distinction of being the first Volunteers coach to oversee a winless regional run (it wasn’t for lack of trying—East Carolina needed 14 innings to put away Tennessee). A season-ending loss to No. 4 VCU hurt, but Elander has already been pursuing portal action. Expect bettter from the Volunteers in year two.

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