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The NCAA baseball super regionals have a high standard to live up to after a ridiculous regional round.
Nine of the 16 regional sites featured a seventh and deciding game, while a handful of other regionals lasted into Monday because of the weather.
The top-seeded Tennessee Volunteers advanced with ease compared to the struggles other national seeds went through.
Tennessee went 3-0 and produced 31 runs inside its home stadium to set up a super regional clash with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, which emerged from the Statesboro, Georgia site.
Notre Dame could have made an argument to host a regional, and it comes into Knoxville, Tennessee off a strong defensive weekend, which was rare in a regional round filled with high-scoring games.
Tennessee is one of five SEC programs still alive in the 2022 NCAA baseball tournament. Three of those squads are set to hit the road in the super regional round, but all of them could emerge with wins and berths in the College World Series.
The full NCAA baseball tournament bracket can be found at NCAA.com. The dates and game times for the super regional round will be announced on Tuesday. All games can be found on the ESPN family of networks and ESPN+.
Predictions
Notre Dame Pushes Tennessee to Three Games
Notre Dame matched Tennessee’s 3-0 record during regional weekend in a handful of low-scoring victories.
The Fighting Irish gave up seven runs over three games against host Georgia Southern and Texas Tech in the Statesboro regional.
Notre Dame’s pitching staff will be given its biggest test of the season in the Knoxville super regional against the Vols’ high-flying offense.
Tennessee needed 31 runs over three games to navigate its regional, which featured wins over Alabama State, Campbell and Georgia Tech.
The Vols’ offense was in fine form, but their pitching staff could have been better against Campbell and Georgia Tech, which combined to score 13 runs against the No. 1 team in college baseball.
Tennessee holds the No. 1 title for a reason. The Vols have one loss since May 7 and lost a single three-game series in the SEC regular season.
Notre Dame may not win in Knoxville, but it can push Tennessee to a winner-take-all Game 3 in the super regional round.
The Fighting Irish did not overwork their pitching staff. They used three pitchers in the regional-clinching win over Texas Tech and had their starters work 5.2 and 7.2 innings in the final two contests in Statesboro.
Other super regional teams exhausted their bullpens just to advance to super regional weekend, and the wear on those arms may show later in the three-game series.
Beating Tennessee once has been an issue for most teams this season, but Notre Dame has the pitching to slow down the Vols’ bats for at least one game.
Tennessee will be favored to advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, but it may take it three games to get there.
SEC Sends At Least Three Teams To Omaha
The best conference in college baseball should have the most representation in Omaha.
Tennessee and Texas A&M will be the favored SEC sides to reach the College World Series since they host super regionals. Texas A&M plays Louisville in the No. 5-versus-No. 12 matchup.
Auburn is the only other SEC team to enter super regionals as a national seed. The Tigers are the No. 14 overall seed and they head to Oregon State for their best-of-three series.
Oregon State had trouble putting away Vanderbilt in the Corvallis regional. Vandy forced the Beavers into a Game 7 in which the Pac-12 side won by a single run. The Beavers now have to deal with an Auburn offense that put up 51 runs in three games.
Auburn’s offense could power the team into Omaha. The Tigers worked seven walks, produced 10 hits and had four doubles in their regional-clinching win over UCLA.
If Auburn’s offense translates to the west coast, it could add to the SEC roster in Omaha.
Arkansas and Ole Miss could be viewed as the two most dangerous unseeded programs left in the field.
Arkansas controlled the Stillwater regional with two wins over Oklahoma State. The Razorbacks’ only loss came in a wild 24-run contest against the host Cowboys that ended one of the wildest days in regional history. Oklahoma State scored 43 runs over two games to stave off elimination.
The Razorbacks take on a North Carolina team that needed two wins over VCU to make it out of the regional round. The Tar Heels’ only regional loss occurred when they were held to three runs by VCU in their first matchup of the weekend.
If Arkansas can limit UNC’s offensive production, it could swing its way to Omaha. But if the UNC bats come alive, it could be a tough challenge.
Ole Miss used a 22-run output against Arizona to set up an in-state super regional against Southern Miss.
The Rebels will face the most emotionally charged super regional because Southern Miss is a mid-major foe from the same state playing at home and looking to prove its worth against a SEC foe.
Southern Miss, like Oregon State, had trouble with a SEC foe on regional weekend, as it had to play LSU three times to advance.
All five SEC teams are capable of reaching Omaha, but at minimum, three should make it as long as the high quality out of the conference all season shows up on super regional weekend.
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