NCAA baseball tournament preview: Regions to watch. Florida State, Florida, UCF and Stetson all launch hopes to for the World Series

Sports Talk Florida

May 30, 2024

Aaron:

Corvallis (Oregon State host) — UC Irvine has great pitching with Nick Pinto and a great bullpen. Tulane earned its way in as an auto-bid and is a strong No. 4 seed playing with house money.
Tucson (Arizona host) — West Virginia and Cal Baptist are solid and will battle for the opportunity to move on in the region. This region also has Grand Canyon, which is the best No. 4 seed.

Michella:

Stillwater (Oklahoma State host) — Jac Caglianone from Florida and Josh Caron from Nebraska are two great power hitters playing in a ballpark made for home runs. It won’t be an easy road for Oklahoma State.

Kendall:

College Station (Texas A&M host) — Louisiana vs Texas is a great 2 vs. 3 match-up. Louisiana has great pitching with Andrew Herrmann and LP Langevin.
Chapel Hill (North Carolina host) — LSU vs. Wofford should be a great game. Wofford’s ace Zac Cowan will likely pitch for against LSU. The right-handed sophomore will be a tough task for LSU’s experienced line-up.
Fayetteville (Arkansas host) — Louisiana Tech vs. Kansas State is an offensive showcase

Kendall:

College Station: Texas A&M shouldn’t struggle with Grambling, which should keep most of their arms fresh for a meeting with either Texas or Louisiana.

Michella:

Athens: Georgia Tech has to be able to pitch to have a chance, and they have struggled on the mound

Knoxville: Southern Miss played Tennessee last year, they have a great pitching staff and an experienced line-up
Clemson: The experience and depth of both Coastal Carolina and Vanderbilt make it tough for Erik Bakich’s Tigers
Stillwater: Offense, offense, offense in Stillwater. This region will provide some fireworks

Georgia vs. NC State: Two of the best offenses and hottest teams in the country squaring off to get to Omaha.
LSU vs. Arizona: The return of Jay Johnson. LSU’s head coach took Arizona to the championship series in 2016.
Kentucky vs. Oregon State: Blue blood vs. new blood. Kentucky has been outstanding this year, but would have to go through Travis Bazzana and the Beavers to get to Omaha for the first time.
Tennessee vs. Wake Forest: Clear your schedule. Chase Burns returns to Knoxville in what would be an electric super regional.

Kendall:

Finally, Kendall and Michella gave their updated picks for national player of the year, national pitcher of the year and freshman of the year.