The 2024 NCAA baseball tournament is here. Action kicks off Friday in the 64-team bracket, which was unveiled on Monday. Tennessee, Kentucky, Texas A&M and North Carolina are the top four seeds in the field, and they’re trying to reach the eight-team College World Series in June.
Before we jump in, you should know that the structure of the NCAA Baseball Tournament is a bit different from the more familiar hoops variant. Here’s what you need to know on that front.
NCAA Baseball Tournament format
- The first round of play is known as the regional and it’s a double-elimination format. Each of the 16 No. 1 seeds hosts its respective four-team regional, when possible. Each of the 16 regionals is seeded one through four. In each region, No. 1 faces No. 4, and No. 2 faces No. 3 on the first day of action. The winners of those two games then play each other, while the losers play an elimination game.
- The winner of each regional advances to the super regional. The super regional, which includes a total of 16 teams, is a best-of-three series format.
- The winners of the super regionals — eight teams in all — advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
- The College World Series is a double-elimination format until the final two teams are left standing. At that point, the slates are wiped clean and it’s a best-of-three series to determine the national champion.
NCAA Tournament, College World Series dates
- Regionals: May 31-June 2
- Super Regionals: June 6-8 or 7-9
- College World Series starts: June 14
- College World Series finals: June 22-24
Top seeds
The field of 64 includes eight national seeds, which you may consider the pre-tourney favorites to reach Omaha. Here are this year’s eight national seeds:
- Tennessee
- Kentucky
- Texas A&M
- North Carolina
- Arkansas
- Clemson
- Georgia
- Florida State
If a national seed wins its regional, then it hosts the super regional when possible. Otherwise, the sites of the super regionals will be announced after the regional round concludes. Regional play gets underway on Friday, June 2. Now, here are the matchups for all 16 regionals, plus a reminder that each region is seeded one through four and is hosted by one of the 16 national seeds. You’ll note that every top-eight seed this year comes from the SEC or ACC.
Now for the regional matchups that make up the opening round.
Athens Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 7 national seed Georgia)
- No. 1 Georgia 8, No. 4 Army 7
- No. 2 UNC-Wilmington vs. No. 3 Georgia Tech
College Station Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 3 national seed Texas A&M)
- No. 1 Texas A&M 8, No. 4 Grambling 0
- No. 2 Louisiana vs. No. 3 Texas
Chapel Hill Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 4 national seed North Carolina)
- No. 1 North Carolina vs. No. 4 Long Island
- No. 2 LSU 4, No. 3 Wofford 3
Charlottesville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 12 national seed Virginia)
- No. 1 Virginia 4, No. 4 Penn 2
- No. 2 Mississippi State vs. No. 4 St. John’s
Clemson Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 6 national seed Clemson)
- No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 High Point
- No. 3 Coastal Carolina 13, No. 2 Vanderbilt 3
Corvallis Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 15 national seed Oregon State)
- No. 1 Oregon State vs. No. 4 Tuland
- No. 2 UC-Irvine vs. No. 4 Nicholls
Fayetteville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 5 national seed Arkansas)
- No. 1 Arkansas vs. No. 4 Southeast Missouri State
- No. 2 Louisiana Tech vs. No. 3 Kansas State
Greenville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 16 national seed East Carolina)
- No. 4 Evansville 4, No. 1 East Carolina 1
- No. 2 Wake Forest vs. No. 3 VCU
Knoxville Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 1 national seed Tennessee)
- No. 1 Tennessee vs. No. 4 Northern Kentucky
- No. 3 Indiana 10, No. 2 Southern Mississippi 4
Lexington Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 2 national seed Kentucky)
- No. 1 Kentucky vs. No. 4 Western Michigan
- No. 2 Indiana State vs. No. 3 Illinois
Norman Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 9 national seed Oklahoma)
- No. 1 Oklahoma vs. No. 4 Oral Roberts
- No. 3 UConn 4, No. 2 Duke 1
Raleigh Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 10 national seed NC State)
- No. 1 NC State vs. No. 4 Bryant
- No. 2 South Carolina 8, No. 3 James Madison 7
Santa Barbara Regional
(Hosted by No. 14 national seed UC-Santa Barbara)
- No. 1 UC-Santa Barbara vs. No. 4 Fresno State
- No. 2 San Diego vs. No. 3 Oregon
Stillwater Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 11 national seed Oklahoma State)
- No. 1 Oklahoma State vs. No. 4 Niagara
- No. 2 Nebraska vs. No. 3 Florida
Tallahassee Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 8 national seed Florida State)
- No. 1 Florida State 7, No. 4 Stetson 2
- No. 2 Alabama vs. No. 3 Central Florida
Tucson Regional scores
(Hosted by No. 13 national seed Arizona)
- No. 1 Arizona vs. No. 4 Grand Canyon
- No. 3 West Virginia 4, No. 2 Dallas Baptist 1
Here’s a link to NCAA.com’s full bracket, which includes region vs. region pairings for the super regionals. Now for some quick hit takeaways on the 64-team field laid out above:
- It’s possible we’ll have a repeat this year, as reigning champion LSU is indeed part of the field of 64. College baseball hasn’t had a repeat national champion at the Division I level since South Carolina in 2010 and 2011.
- The SEC this year set an all-time record with 11 tournament teams. Next in line this year is the ACC with eight bids.
- High Point, Niagara, and Northern Kentucky are all appearing in the Division I tournament for the first time ever.
- Vanderbilt owns the longest active streak of tournament appearances. This year’s bid pushes that streak to 18 straight.
All of the above leads up to the College World Series at Omaha’s Charles Schwab Field. So who ya got?
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