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Ten of the 16 super regional berths have been claimed entering the final day of regional-round play.
Louisville (winner of the Nashville Regional), UTSA (Austin Regional), Arkansas (Fayetteville Regional), Auburn (Auburn Regional), Duke (Athens Regional), Florida State (Tallahassee Regional), West Virginia (Clemson Regional), Arizona (Eugene Regional), Coastal Carolina (Conway Regional) and UCLA (Los Angeles Regional) swept their opening round foes.
North Carolina and Oklahoma (Chapel Hill Regional), LSU and Little Rock (Baton Rouge Regional), Oregon State and Southern California (Corvallis Regional), Ole Miss and Murray State (Oxford Regional), Tennessee and Wake Forest (Knoxville Regional) and Southern Miss and Miami (Hattiesburg Regional) are set to play decisive regional final games on Monday to fill out the remaining super regional spots.
Below is a table with each regional winner or decisive matchup for the super regional round. Teams are listed adjacent to their super regional pairing.
| Louisville | Southern Miss or Miami (Southern Miss would host super with win) |
| UTSA | UCLA (hosting super) |
| Arkansas (hosting super) | Tennessee or Wake Forest |
| Auburn (hosting super) | Coastal Carolina |
| North Carolina or Oklahoma (North Carolina would host super with win) | Arizona |
| LSU or Little Rock (LSU would host super with win) | West Virginia |
| Duke | Ole Miss or Murray State (Ole Miss would host super with win) |
| Oregon State or Southern California (Oregon State would host super with win) | Florida State |
Below are the game times and broadcast details for Monday’s games:
| North Carolina vs. Oklahoma | 3 p.m. ET on ESPNU |
| Ole Miss vs. Murray State | 6 p.m. ET on ESPN+ |
| Oregon State vs. Southern California | 6 p.m. ET on ESPNU |
| Tennessee vs. Wake Forest | 6 p.m. ET on ESPN2 |
| Southern Miss vs. Miami | 9 p.m. ET on ESPNU |
| LSU vs. Little Rock | 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2 |
Tournament Day 3 Takeaways
Here are BA’s main takeaways from Day 3 of regionals, including a look at the SEC’s stunning opening-round performance:
The SEC has dropped the ball
Less than 24 hours ago, you could have called the SEC’s performance average. Entering Day 3, the sport’s powerhouse conference was 16-10 in regional play, with only Alabama eliminated.
But things look far worse heading into Day 4. Vanderbilt, Kentucky, Florida, Mississippi State, Georgia and Texas have now joined Alabama on the eliminated list. Notably, Vanderbilt and Texas became just the second No. 1 and No. 2 national seed pairing to be eliminated in their own regionals since the NCAA adopted the super regional format in 1999.
Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Tennessee and LSU all face decisive elimination games Monday, while only Auburn and Arkansas have secured super regional spots.
It’s a humbling showing for a league that spent much of the season flaunting its depth and strength and sent a record 13 teams to the tournament, none of which landed on the final bubble (Kentucky was the closest and wasn’t even in the committee’s “Last Four In”).
Now, the SEC’s uneven postseason will prompt fresh questions about how many bids are truly warranted as the college baseball landscape continues adjusting to expanded power conferences.
Meanwhile, the ACC is faring far better. Three teams—Louisville, Florida State and Duke—have already punched super regional tickets, with Miami, North Carolina and Wake Forest still alive.
Mid-majors continue to impress
The SEC’s postseason face plant has opened the door for mid-major programs to make a statement, and several have seized the opportunity.
UTSA took down No. 2 Texas on Sunday night to reach its first-ever super regional. Coastal Carolina, the nation’s top mid-major, swept through its regional and punched a ticket to the Auburn Super Regional.
Southern Miss and Murray State both forced winner-take-all games Monday with a chance to advance, as well. If they’re successful, it would mark the strongest non-high-major showing in the super regional round since five mid-majors reached that stage in 2017.
Player of the Day
Sticking with the theme of standout mid-major performances, we’d be remiss not to name UTSA third baseman Norris McClure our Day 3 Player of the Day. McClure powered the Roadrunners past Texas with a 3-for-5 performance, finishing just a triple shy of the cycle. His first-inning home run gave UTSA a lead it never relinquished en route to punching a ticket to the Los Angeles Super Regional where it will face UCLA.
As noted above, this marks the first super regional appearance in UTSA history, the kind of success that could propel head coach Patrick Hallmark into a new coaching job with a high major program.
The transfer portal is alive
Under the current—and widely viewed as dysfunctional—college sports calendar, the NCAA baseball tournament overlaps with the opening of the NCAA transfer portal, which began overnight Monday. Since then, hundreds—and soon thousands—of players have entered what amounts to college baseball’s version of free agency, with several already drawing significant high-major interest.
BA is keeping tabs on major transfer portal entries here and will soon have transfer portal player rankings.
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