STARKVILLE — Mississippi State baseball is hitting the road for the postseason as a No. 2 seed in the Charlottesville Regional hosted by Virginia.

However, coach Chris Lemonis believes the Bulldogs (38-21) should have been picked to host a regional at Dudy Noble Field. On Monday, after the NCAA Tournament field was unveiled, Lemonis voiced his displeasure with the selection committee.

“It’s just so subjective in that room,” Lemonis said. “They take the pieces they want and move them around.”

The selection committee is made up of 10 athletic directors across the country. East Carolina, the final team selected to host, has its athletic director Jon Gilbert on the committee.

During an interview with ESPN following the bracket unveiling, Coastal Carolina AD Matt Hogue – the head of the baseball committee – said Gilbert was not allowed to be in the room or chime in when ECU was discussed.

"There was great deliberation within the room to determine the final host sites,” Hogue said. “I think what it came down to was a variety of factors, really a wholistic approach. We looked at common opponents, how successful teams have been in their conference, the amount of series wins, consistency of play throughout the year, and the committee felt, particularly looking at common opponents and how well teams have fared against the same out of conference opponents, or inside the league. At the end of the day, the committee felt that East Carolina deserved that spot."

Mississippi State finished fifth in the SEC. Georgia, which finished sixth in the conference because MSU owned a tiebreaker between the two, was the No. 7 overall seed.

ECU and Mississippi State shared one common opponent.

MSU swept a pair of midweek games against Memphis – one at home and one on the road. ECU swept a weekend series at Memphis.

“A lot of things (Hogue) talked about didn’t have anything to do with us,” Lemonis said. “We didn’t get swept on any road trips. We played one of the hardest schedules in the country.”

Lemonis wasn’t happy with the uncertainty surrounding criteria. He believes RPI – a rating metric used to help configure the field – hurt Mississippi State.

The Bulldogs sit at No. 25 in those rankings, due in large part to a nonconference strength of schedule ranking 132^nd in the nation. ECU is three spots above Mississippi State.

However, Lemonis called out flaws in RPI. Last week, Mississippi State went 2-2 in the SEC tournament with wins against Ole Miss (No. 32 in RPI) and Texas A&M (No. 2) and losses to Vanderbilt (No. 20) and Tennessee (No. 1). The Bulldogs dropped three spots in the RPI.

“RPI is not the indicator, I’m sorry,” Lemonis said. “Football has gone away from it. Basketball has gone away from it. … That’s the only knock you’ve got on us is RPI, and it’s not the best thing. It’s the best if your team is in that situation.”

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Mississippi State opens postseason play Friday (6 p.m., ESPN+) against No. 3 seed St. John’s (37-16-1). Virginia (41-15) faces No. 4 seed Penn (24-23) on Friday (11 a.m., ESPN+).

“Unfortunately it is what it is,” Lemonis said. “We’re past it. I told our kids we’re at zero. Now, nothing matters. We’re all even, and we just get ready to go.”

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: Chris Lemonis upset Mississippi State baseball not hosting NCAA regional