Conference tournaments are over, and the NCAA Baseball Tournament field has been announced.
Ole Miss:
After a 9-1 victory over LSU in the SEC Tournament Championship game, Ole Miss has received the #4 national seed, and they’ll play host to a regional this weekend in Oxford for the 8th time in program history. Rounding out the Oxford regional will be Tennessee Tech, Missouri State and St. Louis. The Rebels will take on St. Louis on Friday. The Rebels will hope for a better result this time around after being eliminated with 2 straight losses in 2016 – the last time they hosted a regional. Coming off a 40+ win regular season and an SEC title, Ole Miss may be able to make some noise in front of what should be a rocking crowd at Swayze Field.
Southern Miss:
Southern Miss also won their conference tournament, but they’ll hit the road for their regional, and they’ll head to Fayetteville as a #2 seed. Although they would have made it anyway, the tournament title comes with C-USA’s automatic bid into the NCAA postseason. This is the third consecutive year the Golden Eagles have made the 64-team field. In their first action, USM will face Dallas Baptist on Friday night after the early matchup between Arkansas and Oral Roberts. Southern Miss came into the season with lofty expectations after hosting a regional in 2017, and while they’re not hosting this season, they have still shown the nation why they need to be considered a threat in the postseason.
Mississippi State:
Mississippi State will also be on the road as a #2 seed when they travel to Tallahassee and will open up against Oklahoma on Friday. The Bulldogs and the Sooners will play the early game before FSU takes the field against Samford. This marks just the second time that Mississippi State has reached the NCAA Tournament after starting the season 0-3. After a tough start to the season, MSU has bounced back and played solid baseball in the later stages of the season and ended the regular season with a sweep of #1 Florida.
