Predictions are not official bets.

Nashville Regional

Vanderbilt heads into the tournament red hot after winning in Hoover. The top seeded Commodores own the #1 RPI and KPI. Vandy’s pitching has been impressive. JD Thompson, Cody Bowker, and Connor Fennel have all been great, especially at home. Sawyer Hawks has been one of the top bullpen arms in the country and will be a huge contributor to Vandy’s potential Omaha run. Freshman 3B Brodie Johnston carries in a hot bat after winning the SEC tournament MVP award. Johnson had a 2 run HR in the championship game. 1B Riley Nelson joined Johnston on the all tournament team. RJ Austin, Braden Holcomb, and Jonathan Vastine help round out this underrated lineup.

Louisville’s lineup carries pop, but they have not been good away from home all season. I really liked this Louisville team early in the season, but they never seemed to fully put it together on the mound. It is good news to see Patrick Forbes back after he missed some time due to injury.

East Tennessee State is a mid-major program to watch out for. The Bucs steamrolled through a good SoCon conference and also picked up a midweek win against Tennessee. SoCon player of the Year, Cooper Torres, has been on a heater this entire season. ETSU will have a top ten offense while also having a solid pitching staff.

Wright State can swing it, but pitching likely will not hold up against these lineups.

Vanderbilt will be hosting 3 very good offenses in this regional. It could be trouble if Vandy’s lineup falls flat, which has happened on a few rare occasions this season. Dores finished 28-5 at home this season and have one of the deepest pitching staffs in the country. If Vandy continues their momentum from Hoover, they should have a problem advancing to Supers.

Prediction: Vanderbilt

Austin Regional

Texas dropped to the #2 seed after losing 2 of their final 3 series and a one game appearance in Hoover. Everyone seemed to jump off the bandwagon after the Arkansas and Florida series, but Texas is fine. I thought their performance was fine the final weekend of the season vs OU and they played a good game in Hoover. Max Belyeu’s return to the lineup is a huge addition. C Ryan Galvan is one of the best in the country. Losing Jared Spencer was a loss to the rotation, but guys have stepped up. SEC Freshman of the Year, Dylan Volantis will headline the bullpen. Horns were 26-5 at home this season and should be able to advance to hosting a super.

UTSA dominated the American conference regular season. Their lineup can really hit as they carry the 13th highest wRC+ in the country. The Roadrunners dropped two games in the AAC tournament to Tulane.

Kansas State was one of the Last 4 In according to the committee. The Wildcats have collected wins over Arkansas, TCU, and Nebraska on a neutral but really have not played well in true road games.

Houston Christian won the Southland Conference tourney as the 6 seed. Clay VanderLaan has done a great job in year one as HC of the Huskies.

Prediction: Texas

Fayetteville Regional

Arkansas snags the number 3 overall seed after collecting 20 SEC wins. The Hogs are the most balanced team in the country with the 4th highest team wRC+ and 2nd lowest xFIP. The Hogs own a dominant 32-4 record at Baum Walker this season including series wins against Texas and Tennessee. SEC POY, Wehiwa Aloy will lead a lineup that features plenty of pop. Zach Root will headline a pitching staff that has some of the most depth in the country. Root, OF Charles Davalan and UTL Kuhio Aloy joined Wehiwa Ally with first team SEC honors.

Kansas and Creighton will be an entertaining first game to watch. Kansas is a good team, but this was a tough draw for them.

Creighton is hot and playing for HC Ed Servais, who is retiring after a 22 year legacy. The Jays ending their season in Omaha would be the perfect story, but good luck in Fayetteville.

North Dakota State made a run in the Summit tournament to earn their bid.

Prediction: Arkansas

Auburn Regional

I was surprised to see Auburn grab the number 4 overall seed over UNC, but it is much deserved. The Tigers racked up 16 Q1 wins while playing the #1 SOS. Auburn managed to end the season #3 in RPI and #5 in KPI. I was high on Auburn in the preseason, as I had them ranked and Butch Thompson delivered. The Tigers really impressed me at times. Sam Dutton has been amazing on Friday Nights. Ike Irish’s draft stock continues to climb as he has proven to be one of the best prospects in the country. Chris Rembert, Chase Fralick, and Bub Terrell were 3 Freshmen that were really a huge reason as to why this team was elite all season.

NC State has been up and down this year. They looked really good in their series wins over Clemson, Virginia, and Louisville. State was in the driver’s seat to win the ACC before dropping their final series to Stanford at home.

Stetson will head to Auburn after winning (I guess) the ASUN tournament. Weather interrupted the championship with FGCU. FGCU had a 6-5 lead in the 7th when the rain hit. After a delay of more than 6 hours, they called it. FGCU were winners of the game, but had to beat Stetson twice to receive the bid. Since the Hatters were the top seed, they were rewarded with the automatic bid. Stetson is a great program, as this will be their 20th all time regional appearance. Isaiah Barkett swings it well from the leadoff spot and Jonathan Gonzalez is a talented veteran starter that could give NCST problems in game one. I honestly like their draw here. NC State has been vulnerable and Auburn has flopped in a few games at home this season to lesser opponents like Holy Cross, UAB, and Old Dominion. Of course Auburn is the best team and should advance here, but I am fine with sprinkling a little Stetson at +750.

Winner: Stetson

Chapel Hill Regional

A regional will be headed to Chapel Hill for back to back seasons. There is a lot to like with UNC as the ACC tournament champions have one of the deeper pitching staffs in the country. ACC pitcher of the year Jake Knapp owned a 11-0 record with a 2.14 ERA. Jason DeCaro and Aiden Haugh round out the rotation while Walker McDuffee leads the bullpen. Luke Stevenson and 1B Hunter Stokely and OF Kane Kepley all received all- conference honors and will headline the lineup. Similar to other top teams, UNC was dominant at home with a 25-6 record.

Oklahoma never gets enough credit. The Sooners had a remarkable year one in the SEC. 14 conference wins and a good run in Hoover is nothing to complain about. Kyson Witherspoon is one of the top arms in the country. OU is saving him for game two as his brother, Malachi Witherspoon, will go game one vs Nebraska. Easton Carmichael is your hitter to watch for the Sooners.

Nebraska heads to Chapel Hill after winning their second consecutive Big Ten tournament title. The Big Red were active in Omaha last week and I’m sure they will travel well to the East Coast. Cayden Brumbaugh and Gabe Swanson are swinging hot bats while Jackson Brockett, Luke Broderick, and Ty Horn were huge for the Huskers in the Big Ten tourney.

Winner: UNC

Baton Rouge Regional

Baton Rouge will be hosting a regional for the 28th time in program history. The Tigers had 19 SEC wins and showcased their dominance multiple times this season. Their pitching staff is elite, owning the 5th lowest xFIP in the country. Kade Anderson and Anthony Eyanson offer perhaps the best 1/2 combo in the country. Zac Cowan is one of the top bullpen arms in the country. Casan Evans, Chase Shroes, Jaden Noot, Jacob Mayers, William Schmidt are all piwerful arms Johnson will have at his disposal. To no one’s surprise, LSU plays much better at home. The Tigers received a very favorable draw here, as they are the only member from a power 3 conference.

Dallas Baptist will be appearing in their 11th consecutive regional. They are only one of five programs to achieve this including: Vanderbilt, LSU, Florida, and Oklahoma State. That is a very impressive feat for HC Dan Heefner and company. Per usual, this DBU lineup rakes. Grant Jay, Keaton Grady, Chayton Krauss, and Nathan Humphreys all received first team CUSA honors. DBU’s pitching is honestly underrated. Ryan Boberg and Mason Peters received all CUSA honors while James Elwanger is a top college 2025 draft prospect. Micah Bucknam began the season as their #1 but was injured mid way through. The former Tiger returned to throw 3 perfect innings last week in the tournament.

Rhode Island won the bid from the Atlantic 10. The Rams can swing it. They own the 6th highest wRC+ and a very low K%. Anthony DePino, Jack Hopko and Reece Moroney are names to watch in the lineup.

Winner: LSU

Athens Regional

Wes Anderson has earned a national seed in b2b seasons as Georgia’s HC. Despite losing last year’s Golden Spikes Winner, this Georgia lineup led the country in multiple offensive categories for a majority of the season. Slate Alford was first team SEC. Ryland Zaborowski and Robbie Burnett joined him on the second team. Zaborowski returned to the lineup recently but Burnett missed the SEC tournament game vs OU. It was likely precautionary with Georgia already having a top 8 seed locked. Brian Curley has been the most consistent arm this season. He will be joined by guys like Leighton Finley, Kolten Smith, Alton Davis, and JT Quinn to round out the staff. Georgia finished an impressive 29-4 at Foley Field this season.

I was hoping Duke received a favorable draw as a 2 seed, but this was not the case. The Blue Devils struggled early before playing some good baseball down the stretch. Ben Miller and AJ Garcia will be two of the better hitters in this regional. Duke has really been swinging well overall as a team but they will likely have to face Oklahoma State’s Harrison Bodendorf in game one and Georgia’s Brian Curley in game two.

Honestly, I believed Oklahoma State had little chance for an at-large bid mid way through the season. Holiday’s group looked dead in the water before turning it up on the back half. Harrison Bodendorf leads a talented pitching staff with guys like Mario Pesca, Gabe Davis, and Sean Youngerman. Nolan Schubert is the bat to watch in a lineup that has struggled for the majority of the season. For OKST to win this regional against teams like Duke and UGA they will need to produce offense which has been a problem all season.

Winner: Georgia

Corvallis Regional

Oregon State manages to finish the season with the #7 RPI despite not being affiliated with a conference. Hats off to HC Mitch Canham and the AD for setting the Beavers up with a schedule when many teams were already scheduled with conference games for the weekend. The schedule included 35 games away from home. 22 games ended up qualifying as Q1 games, which is more than the majority of ACC teams. They did finish 7th in RPI but were much lower (19th) in KPI. The major blemish on the Oregon State season was being swept 0-4 against Oregon which leaves their two best series wins being 2 Big West schools – Cal Poly & UC Irvine. They went 0-2 vs the SEC as well. The Beavers have a wide variety of talented arms including Ethan Kleinschmidt, Dax Whitney, Eric Segura, Nelson Keljo, and Wyatt Queen. Aiva Arquette will be a top draft pick this summer.

TCU heads to Corvallis after being one of the teams on the wrong side of the hosting bubble. The Frogs were the highest-rated KPI and third-highest rated RPI team to not host. TCU had 5 Freshmen selected to the All-Freshman team including talented prospects, Sawyer Strosnider and Noah Franco. Nolan Traeger, Chase Brunson, and Karson Bowen are featured bats in the lineup. The lineup will need to continue hitting it well if they have hopes of escaping Corvallis. Tommy LaPour has been one of the Big 12’s best starters, but I am not high on the staff outside of that.

USC managed to sneak into the field as a Last 4 In team. The Trojans finished 5-6 vs Q1 including a series win vs UCLA and an early season win over Vanderbilt. This USC team is pretty balanced overall. They struck out over 20% of the time playing in the Big Ten, which could be concerning against teams like TCU and Oregon State. Ethan Hedges is one of the best two way players in the country. Hedges is hitting .343 with 12 HRS while also serving as the team’s closer. Brodie Purcell is another arm out of the bullpen to watch. Caden Aoki is the veteran starter that headlines the USC rotation.

Saint Mary’s as the 4 seed should not be a team that is looked over by anyone. The Gaels have the 22nd highest wRC+ in the country and really swung it well during the WCC Tournament. Not sure if they have the pitching to have a spark in this tough regional.

Prediction: Oregon State