Mississippi State baseball not selected as NCAA Tournament regional host. Where Bulldogs could play
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball was not selected to host an NCAA Tournament regional.
This will be the first postseason in which the Bulldogs are among the field of 64 but aren’t hosting since 2018 – the final season before coach Chris Lemonis was hired.
MSU (38-21) has been on the bubble to host since a late-April series win at Vanderbilt, according to various projections. However, after entering Sunday at No. 24 in the RPI – a rating metric the selection committee uses as a tool in assembling the field – the Bulldogs weren’t announced among the 16 host teams.
Mississippi State will learn its postseason fate Monday (11 a.m., ESPN2) when the rest of the field is unveiled.
Here’s a look at where the Bulldogs could be headed for a regional.
Where Mississippi State baseball could play in NCAA Tournament
These five schools from the SEC were selected as hosts: Tennessee, Texas A&M, Kentucky, Arkansas and Georgia. MSU won’t play in those regionals.
That leaves North Carolina, Virginia, Clemson, Oregon State, East Carolina, Oklahoma, NC State, UC Santa Barbara, Oklahoma State, Florida State and Arizona as potential schools to host MSU.
If Mississippi State is among the top, or the top, No. 2 seed, East Carolina and Arizona appear to be the most likely landing spots. The Wildcats have the worst RPI (31) among hosting schools while the Pirates sit at No. 22.
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Why Mississippi State baseball isn’t hosting
Despite owning a top-15 strength of schedule, MSU’s nonconference slate ranked outside the top 130 nationally. Teams such as Indiana State and East Carolina had at top-20 nonconference strength of schedule.
That weak slate saw the Bulldogs collect five Quadrant 4 losses.
However, even when MSU won, the lowly competition hurt Mississippi State’s case. A midweek game against Birmingham scheduled for April 9 was cancelled due to weather. Outside of that, the Bulldogs didn’t cancel a nonconference contest – which is noteworthy considering the committee warned teams of possible consequences if games were canceled for RPI purposes.
East Carolina had two midweek games canceled, including a contest against Campbell (No. 83 in RPI) in the last week of the regular season. Mississippi State’s final midweek game on May 14 came against a North Alabama team sitting outside the top 275 in the RPI.
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Mississippi State baseball not selected to host NCAA Tournament regional
