Current status:
Super Regionals are complete.
North Carolina becomes the first team to advance to the CWS,
joined soon after by Oregon State.
Next in were Washington and Mississippi State,
followed by Texas and Texas Tech,
and then Arkansas and Florida.
The Regionals resulted in quite a few upsets.
The biggest surprise had to be that N7 seed Florida State
went 0-2 and BBQ to end the season, a season when Coach Mike Martin
passed Augie Garrido (1975 wins) to take the record for most wins
in Division 1 baseball. Martin now has 1987 wins.
FSU lost to 4-seed Samford in the opening game of the regional
and was knocked out by eventual champ Mississippi State.
Pac-12 champ and N2 Stanford was knocked out by Cal State Fullerton.
SEC champ and N4 Mississippi was knocked out by Tennessee Tech
from the Ohio Valley Conference, and N8 Georgia was knocked out by Duke,
Finally, N10 Clemson was eliminated by Vanderbilt,
N12 East Carolina finished 3rd in its own region, as did N15 Coastal Carolina,
and N16 North Carolina State was eliminated by Auburn.
SOME parts of this are still in DRAFT form until I get caught up.
Info about conference standings is TBA.
New readers should consult a separate page that gives some general background information on the records, polls, RPI, ISR, etc information included in the table below. (An "N" indicates a "national" seed.) As usual, the polls and data are from from Monday, 28 May 2018, when the regional pairings and seedings were announced. Again, many thanks to Boyd Nation for the pseudo-RPI and ISR information generated from his database. We also have the official NCAA RPI available but that information is still only used in my discussion area.
The average (mean) ISR for the field is 112.3,
plus or minus a standard deviation of 7.9.
The median ISR is 113.75.
The highest pseudo-RPI ranking without a bid was Kentucky (32), followed by Central Florida (42). The lowest pseudo-RPI with an at-large bid was Washington (62), well behind Oklahoma State (45), South Carolina (44), or Houston (43). [The NCAA's official RPI rankings confirm that Washington (at 63) was by far the lowest ranked team to make it into the tournament and that Kentucky (at 30) was the highest ranked team left out.]
The highest ISR without a bid was also Kentucky (115.0), followed by Arizona (113.8), who lost out to Washington (in with 111.9). The lowest ISR with an at-large bid was Northeastern (110.0), just behind Oklahoma State (110.6) and Ohio State (111.2).
Note: The NCAA identified the regions only by location, so the region numbering scheme is my own creation, reflecting the seeding of the associated super regional and identifying which of the two paired regionals has a top-8 nationally seeded team. The regional names are also my own, carrying on a tradition started by Craig Gowens (aka the perpetual "Commissioner of the SWC") on Usenet.
Update to the format:
The NCAA seeded teams from 1 to 16,
and paired up the regionals so that 1 plays 16, 2 plays 15, ..., and 8 plays 9 in
the respective Super Regionals.
This now mirrors what has been done in Basketball "forever".
Although it has no effect on the organization of the games that I use
here, I have added an annotation to the region numbers to show the
seedings from 9 to 16.
This change led to a significant, but
unpublicized?, change in how teams are paired in the Super Regionals.
Until this year, it was forbidden to seed two teams from the same
conference so they would be "expected" to meet in the same Super Regional,
but this year they put two ACC teams as the top seeds in Regions 7 [7 seed]]
and 7a [10 seed].
Curiously, despite having 10 teams in the tournament, there were no
instances of SEC teams being intentionally paired up in the same
way. However, as in past years, upsets have resulted in
three all-SEC Super Regionals so half (3 of 6) of the
remaining SEC teams are guaranteed to be in the CWS
as soon as they knock out the the other 3 SEC teams.
Super Regional Summary:
Will appear here after the regionals are over.
Complete Results:
Note: All series start on Friday, 1 June. The order here is by national seed, not by future CWS pairing (which is the 1-8, 5-4, 2-7, 6-3 order used in NCAA brackets) or the seemingly random order resulting from alphabetizing them by the host city.
NCAA Record Polls Boyd Nation
Seed Team Result W L T CB BA RPI ISR etc....
==== =============== ====== ======= == == === === ===============
Region 1 [Swamp] - Gainesville, FL
-------- ------- ---------------
N1 * Florida WW LW 42-17 4 1 1 122 SEC
3 Florida Atl. LWWWL 40-17 . . 29 114 Conf USA
2 Jacksonville WLL 39-19 . . 21 112 Atl Sun (#)
4 Columbia LL 20-28 . . 185 94 Ivy champ
Region 1a=16 [East II] - Raleigh, NC
--------- --------- -----------
2 * Auburn WW W 39-21 -- 22 13 118 SEC
1 N. Carolina St LWWL 40-16 9 15 19 117 ACC
4 Army WLL 36-22 . . 77 102 Patriot champ
3 Northeastern LL 36-19 . . 36 110 Colonial
===> Super Regional 1: Auburn 2 3 2
at 1 Florida 8 2 3(11)# ==> meets 8
# Home team in the third game.
==========================
Region 2 [West] - Stanford, CA
-------- ------ ------------
3 * CSU,Fullerton WW W 32-23 28 -- 51 113 Big West champ
N1 Stanford WLWL 44-10 3 3 2 126 Pac-12 champ
2 Baylor LWL 36-19 25 -- 33 115 Big 12 champ
4 Wright St LL 39-15 . . 68 109 Horizon champ
Region 2a=15 [Southeast II] - Conway, SC
--------- -------------- -----------
3 * Washington WW W 30-23 30 -- 62 112 Pac-12
2 Connecticut LWWL 35-20-1 26 21 15 114 American
1 Coastal Carol. WLL 42-17 17 13 17 118 Sun Belt champ
4 LIU Brooklyn LL 31-24 . . 214 91 Northeast champ
===> Super Regional 2: Washington 8 2 6(10)# ==> meets 7
at Fullerton 5 5 5
# Home team in the third game. First two games alternate home and away.
==========================
Region 3 [Pacific] - Corvalis, OR
-------- --------- ------------
N1 * Oregon St WW W 44-10-1 1 2 7 125 Pac-12
2 Louisiana St WLWL 37-25 . . 34 115 SEC
4 Northwestern St LWL 37-22 . . 105 105 Southland champ
3 San Diego St LL 39-19 . . 52 115 Mtn West champ
Region 3a=14 [North] - Minneapolis, MN
--------- ------- ---------------
1 * Minnesota WW W 41-13 14 9 14 118 Big Ten champ
2 UCLA WLWL 36-19 23 20 23 119 Pac-12
3 Gonzaga LWL 32-22 . . 64 111 West Coast champ (#)
4 Canisius LL 35-20 . . 133 101 Metro Atl champ
===> Super Regional 3: 14 Minnesota 1 3
at 3 Oregon St 8 6 ==> meets 6
==========================
Region 4 [Central I] - Oxford, MS
-------- ----------- ----------
2 * Tenn. Tech WLWWW 48- 9 22 25 24 118 Ohio Valley
N1 Mississippi WW LL 46-15 6 4 4 123 SEC champ
3 Missouri St LWL 39-15 29 23 26 116 Mo Valley champ (#1)
4 Saint Louis LL 38-18 . . 91 106 Atl 10 champ
Region 4a=13 [Central II] - Austin, TX
--------- ------------ ----------
1 * Texas WW W 37-20 12 14 22 116 Big 12
2 Indiana LWWL 38-17 . . 27 115 Big Ten
3 Texas A&M WLL 39-20 . . 16 118 SEC
4 Texas Southern LL 27-26 . . 221 92 SWAC champ
===> Super Regional 4: Tenn. Tech 5 2 2
at 13 Texas 4 4 5# ==> meets 5
==========================
Region 5 [Midwest I] - Fayetteville, AR
-------- ----------- ----------------
N1 * Arkansas WW W 39-18 10 8 6 122 SEC
3 Dallas Baptist LWWL 40-19 . . 39 114 Mo Valley
2 Southern Miss. WLL 43-16 8 17 41 116 Conf USA champ (#1)
4 Oral Roberts LL 38-18 . . 128 104 Summit champ
Region 5a=12 [Mideast II] - Greenville, NC
--------- ------------ --------------
2 * S. Carolina WW W 33-24 19 -- 44 113 SEC
4 NC-Wilmington LWWL 37-21 . . 63 107 Colonial champ
1 E. Carolina WLL 43-16 18 12 12 119 American champ
3 Ohio St LL 36-22 . . 35 111 Big Ten
===> Super Regional 5: S.Carolina 3 8 4
at 5 Arkansas 9 5 14# ==> meets 4
# Home team in the third game
==========================
Region 6 [East I] - Chapel Hill, NC
-------- -------- ---------------
N1 * N. Carolina WW W 38-18 5 6 8 119 ACC
3 Houston WLWL 36-23 24 19 43 112 American (#1)
2 Purdue LWL 37-19 27 -- 30 112 Big Ten
4 NC A&T LL 32-23 . . 218 93 MEAC champ
Region 6a=11 [Atlantic] - Deland, FL
--------- ---------- ----------
1 * Stetson WW W 45-11 16 18 5 118 Atl Sun champ
3 Oklahoma St WLWL 29-24 . . 45 111 Big 12
2 S. Florida LWL 35-20 . . 18 115 American
4 Hartford LL 26-29 . . 154 96 Amer East champ
===> Super Regional 6: 11 Stetson 4 5
at 6 N.Carolina 7 7 ==> meets 3
==========================
Region 7 [South] - Tallahassee, FL
-------- ------- ---------------
2 * Miss. State LWWWW 31-25 .. .. 28 113 SEC
3 Oklahoma WW LL 36-23 . . 40 113 Big 12
4 Samford WLL 36-24 . . 98 104 Southern champ
N1 Florida St LL 43-17 15 5 3 120 ACC champ
Region 7a=10 [Southeast I] - Clemson, SC
--------- ------------- -----------
2 * Vanderbilt WW W 31-25 .. .. 38 114 SEC
1 Clemson WLWL 45-14 2 7 11 120 ACC
3 St. John's (NY) LWL 39-15 20 -- 31 112 Big East champ
4 Morehead St LL 37-24 . . 92 103 Ohio Valley champ
===> Super Regional 7: Miss. St 10* 3 10(11) ==> meets 2
at Vanderbilt 8 4* 5#
* Mississippi State was the home team in the first game. Perhaps because they are
playing at Vanderbilt due to reconstruction of the Miss. State baseball stadium?
# Home team in the third game.
==========================
Region 8 [Mideast I] - Athens, GA
-------- ----------- ----------
2 * Duke LWWWW 40-15 11 16 20 116 ACC (Coast)
N1 Georgia WW LL 37-19 7 11 9 120 SEC
3 Troy WLL 41-19 . . 37 115 Sun Belt
4 Campbell LL 35-24 . . 115 102 Big South champ
Region 8a=9 [Midwest II] - Lubbock, TX
--------- ------------ -----------
1 * Texas Tech WW W 39-17 13 10 10 120 Big 12
2 Louisville WLWL 43-17 21 24 25 117 ACC
3 Kent State LWL 39-16 . . 61 109 MAC champ (East#, #)
4 New Mexico St LL 40-20 . . 87 108 WAC champ
===> Super Regional 8: Duke 4 11 2
at 9 Texas Tech 6 2 6# ==> meets 1
# Home team in the third game
==========================
Related information:
In addition, I include the usual list of "bridesmaid" teams. Several of these were obvious, others stood out in Boyd's rankings, and some (like the bottom 25 in both rankings) were picked to provide perspective. There are none missing with an ISR of 110 or above, or a pRPI below 64. I also try to include all of the teams that led their conference in the regular season but lost out in the conference tournament because their conference only rates a single bid, as well as some teams that move in and out of the cellar. You can see how the NCAA thinks the various conferences measure up on my conference ranking page.
Decisive criteria listed by the NCAA selection committee in the past have included strength of non-conference schedule and performance in the conference tournament in addition to the overall season performance numbers we tabulate here.
Examination of past tournaments suggested that conference finish was undoubtedly the reason every team with a pseudo-RPI high enough to make the field strictly by the numbers (those marked with an "*") was left out by the committee. This is clearly the case for Kentucky! Discuss? Is it still true that ... This is clearly the case for all such teams this year, since all of them finished below 0.500 for the season in their conference or lost their conference tournament.
Washington was clearly the last team added to the field.
... RPI analysis NOT YET COMPLETE ...
Overlooked ? (ordered by ISR, records may not be accurate)
----------
Record Polls Boyd Nation
Seed Team W L T CB BA RPI ISR etc....
==== =============== ...... ======= == == === === ===============
X* Kentucky .. 34-22 . . 32 115 SEC
X Arizona .. 34-22 . . 48 114 Pac-12
Missouri .. 34-22 . . 50 113 SEC
Wichita St .. 35-21 . . 54 112 American
* Central Fla .. 35-21 . . 42 112 American
Texas Christian .. 33-23 . . 58 112 Big 12
Illinois .. 33-20 . . 46 112 Big Ten
Louisiana Tech .. 39-20 . . 60 112 Conf USA
California .. 32-22 . . 73 112 Pac-12
South Alabama .. 32-25 . . 47 111 Sun Belt
Sam Houston St .. 39-20 . . 56 111 Southland
UNLV .. 35-24 . . 72 111 Mtn West
Creighton .. 34-16 . . 59 110 Big East
LA-Lafayette .. 34-25 . . 55 110 Sun Belt
Georgia Tech .. 31-27 . . 53 109 ACC (Coast)
NC-Greensboro .. 39-15 . . 67 109 Southern
Michigan .. 33-21 . . 57 109 Big Ten
Nevada .. 29-24 . . 69 109 Mtn West
UC Irvine .. 32-24 . . 107 109 Big West
West Virginia .. 29-27 . . 49 109 Big 12
Alabama .. 27-29 . . 82 108 SEC
Tennessee .. 29-27 . . 76 108 SEC
Pepperdine .. 31-24 . . 104 108 West Coast
Iowa .. 33-20 . . 79 108 Big Ten
Miami, FL .. 28-26 . . 65 108 ACC (Coast#, #) out 2 yrs after 44 yrs in
Col. Charleston .. 36-19 . . 66 108 Colonial
Indiana St .. 31-24 . . 74 108 Mo Valley
So. California 26-28 . . 130 106 Pac-12 (#)
Seton Hall .. 30-20 . . 70 105 Big East
Wake Forest .. 25-32 . . 71 104 ACC
San Diego 23-32 . . 123 103 West Coast (#)
Notre Dame 24-30 . . 110 103 ACC (Atl#, #)
Houston Baptist 29-30 . . 108 102 Southland (#)
Loyola Marymnt 25-30 . . 169 102 West Coast (#)
Tx-Arlingtion 22-35 . . 182 98 Sun Belt (West#, #)
Michigan St 20-32 . . 197 96 Big Ten (#9)
New Jersey Tech 22-25 . . 150 94 Atlantic Sun (#) ?
Lehigh 22-27 . . 200 89 Patriot (#)
Florida A&M 25-30 . . 256 86 MEAC (South#, #)
Abilene Christian 21-23 . . 276 86 Southland
Grambling State 26-26 . . 269 85 SWAC (West#, #)
Chicago St 13-41 . . 266 85 WAC (#)
Western Illinois 17-31 . . 279 85 Summit
Presbyterian 15-39 . . 275 84 Big South
Nebraska-Omaha 15-35 . . 284 84 Summit (#)
Arkansas-Pine Bluff 20-25 . . 277 83 SWAC (West#, #)
Mount St. Mary's 21-33 . . 252 83 Northeast (#)
Iona 16-31 . . 257 83 Metro Atl
Princeton 10-27 . . 270 83 Ivy
Sacred Heart 17-35 . . 245 83 Northeast
Northern Kentucky 14-39 . . 274 83 Horizon
Lafayette 16-34 . . 254 83 Patriot (#)
Bowling Green St 11-39 . . 282 81 MAC
Towson 13-42 . . 273 80 Colonial
LaSalle 14-41 . . 284 79 Atl 10 (#)
St. Bonaventure 10-33 . . 278 79 Atl 10
Villanova 9-39 . . 281 78 Big East
Coppin St 21-24 . . 280 78 MEAC (North#, #)
Alabama A&M 12-37 . . 286 77 SWAC (East#, #)
Rider 12-35 . . 285 77 Metro Atl
IuPu-Fort Wayne 11-37 . . 292 76 Summit (#)
Southern 9-33 . . 289 75 SWAC (West#, #)
Prairie View A&M 14-40 . . 291 74 SWAC (West#, #)
Alcorn St 13-39 . . 287 74 SWAC (East#, #)
Norfolk St 19-30 . . 290 73 MEAC
Savannah St 7-34 . . 288 72 MEAC (South#, #)
Miss Valley St 11-35 . . 293 71 SWAC (East#, #)
Fairleigh Dickinson 10-37 . . 294 70 Northeast (#)
UM Eastern Shore 12-41 . . 296 66 MEAC (North#, #)
St. Peter's 2-42 . . 295 64 Metro Atl (#)
Delaware St 9-35 . . 297 60 MEAC (North#, #)
NY Tech - . . --- -- Dropped Div-1 Baseball ?
---------------
X - denotes team with Boyd's computer ranking above the 113.75
median for regional tournament teams. The lowest ISR of an
at-large team was 110.0.
* - denotes team with a higher pseudo-RPI than the natural cutoff
for a 64-team tournament after automatic bids are used up [44].
==== =============== ====== ======= == == === === == ===============
Move the following to the top when regionals are over.
Super Regional Summary:
I order these results in almost the same way the NCAA does (they use 1-8, 5-4, 2-7, 6-3), reflecting the pairings in the CWS brackets.
Super Regional 1: .... . .
at .... . . ==> meets 8
Super Regional 8: .... . .
at .... . . ==> meets 1
Super Regional 4: .... . . .
at .... . . . ==> meets 5
Super Regional 5: .... . . .
at .... . . . ==> meets 4
==========================
Super Regional 2: .... . .
at .... . . ==> meets 7
Super Regional 7: .... . .
at .... . . ==> meets 2
Super Regional 3: .... . .
at .... . . ==> meets 6
Super Regional 6: .... . . .
at .... . . . ==> meets 3
==========================