What Must Happen for State to Host a Regional
Great win on Day 1 of the SEC Tournament over Arkansas for the Dawgs! To pitch Brandon Woodruff, a freshman against UPig’s ace and come out with a 9-1 victory was awesome. On Wednesday, MSU will trot Chris Stratton to the hill to take on LSU – who will pitch freshman Aaron Nola (their typical Sunday
starter). Great chance to take the game against the #2 team in the country and advance to play Kentucky, who we swept last weekend.
So, what are the chances of hosting a Regional at Dudy Noble? As Southeastern Baseball has laid out, it might not be all in what the Bulldogs do – but what other potential hosting teams do this week.
It appears as though these 12 teams have locked up their hosting duties: LSU, Florida, South Carolina, Florida State, North Carolina, NC State, Baylor, Texas A&M, Oregon, UCLA, Stanford and Rice.
So that leaves 4 slots. Here are the candidates: Purdue, Arizona, Kentucky, Cal State Fullerton, Virginia, Miami (FL) and Mississippi State.
And those are in order. Purdue would have to fall apart to lose a Regional – even though they don’t have their own ballpark (lights). There are three western teams in the list of 12, so having both Arizona and Cal State Fullerton miss the boat is unlikely. So let’s assume two spots are left. Unless Virginia gets torched in the ACC Tournament they look pretty good (but we’ll definitely have to root against them – and Miami too). So, maybe it comes down to Kentucky and MSU?
UK did finish two games ahead of State in the final standings despite the fact we swept them in the final weekend. They also have a much better overall record and spent most of the season in the Top 10. If the Dawgs are able to beat LSU on Wednesday they would have another shot to beat the Wildcats. If so, that would be 4 for 4 against them.
If State were to win their first three games in the SEC Tourney, they would have a bye on Friday. And MSU would play the winner of the likely matchup of LSU and Kentucky on Saturday. According to the SEC bracket, the team coming from the loser’s bracket only has to beat the team coming from the winner’s bracket once on Saturday to advance to the Championship Game. That’s neither here nor there, but if State were to beat Kentucky for a 5th time OR UK were to lose to LSU on Friday, then obviously MSU would have surpassed the Cats at this point in the season. At least that’s what I would see.
We probably need some help, and we need to play really well in the SEC Tourney too…but there is a chance at hosting a Regional in Starkville.