Analysis: Louisiana schools headed in multiple directions for NCAA baseball regionals

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NCAA 2022 baseball bracket

The last time at least four Louisiana schools reached the NCAA Tournament and none of them hosted, it was 1988, and five schools got sent to three different locations.

This time, four teams are each headed to different sites.

While the two major pre-announcement projections brought three Louisiana schools to Southern Miss, in the end, that didn’t materialize – but LSU is still headed to Hattiesburg.

The Tigers (38-20) will meet Kennesaw State (35-26), the Atlantic Sun Conference champion, in the opening round Friday at Pete Taylor Park, while the Golden Eagles, who got the No. 11 overall seed, take on Army.

LSU last played a road regional in the Central Time Zone 33 years ago, when it rallied out of the loser’s bracket to defeat Texas A&M. The Tigers, whose last three regional road trips were to Pac-12 schools, last traveled east for a regional in 1975, when it played in Starkville, Mississippi.

“It’s a great regional field in Hattiesburg and we’re excited to be a part of it,” said LSU head coach Jay Johnson. “My teams (at Arizona) have gotten to Omaha entirely from the road, and they gotten to Omaha from our home stadium, so I know it can be done both ways. I’m just really excited for this team, to be going to the NCAA Tournament, to have a 38-win regular season while going through a lot of adversity.”

The Hattiesburg regional is paired with the Coral Gables regional, and if LSU can get through this weekend, the storylines for a super regional are off the charts, regardless of the opponent – Miami and the ties to those programs going back to Skip Bertman’s hire; Ole Miss, coached by former Tiger catcher Mike Bianco, whose son Drew plays for LSU, or Arizona, the program Scott Woodward plucked Jay Johnson away from to lead the Tigers a year ago.

Louisiana (36-21) heads to College Station, Texas, to be part of what could be called the “Jim Schlossnagle Invitational.”

The Ragin’ Cajuns will face TCU (36-20) in the opening round on Friday, while Texas A&M faces Oral Roberts in the other matchup.

Schlossnagle, a former Tulane assistant, is in his first year as head coach at A&M after taking TCU to four consecutive trips to the College World Series.

Louisiana Tech (42-19) will open against Dallas Baptist (34-22-1) in Austin, Texas. Texas – the No. 9 national seed – and Air Force are the other teams in the regional.

Dallas Baptist is moving from the Missouri Valley Conference to Conference USA next year, so these two schools are previewing a future conference matchup.

DBU was a bubble team in the minds of most, but in the end was safely in and not one of the last four in the field, thanks in large part to their highly ranked strength of schedule.

Southland Conference champ Southeastern Louisiana (30-29) will travel to Auburn (37-19), the No. 14 overall seed, for its first-round matchup. Florida State and UCLA are the other teams headed to the Plains.

The national discussion certainly was focused on the shrinking bubble, with as many as a half-dozen stolen bids by tournament winners who would not have otherwise made the field.

The last four in the field, according to the committee, were Florida State, Grand Canyon, Liberty and Ole Miss, while the first four out were North Carolina State, Old Dominion, Rutgers and Wofford.

Among those left out, NC State drew the most immediate attention in the aftermath of the announcement. Surprisingly, UTSA – which lost to Louisiana Tech Sunday in the Conference USA final – was behind Old Dominion, which lost to Tech in the tournament semifinals, in the pecking order.

The double-elimination regionals begin Friday and run through June 6. The 16 regional winners advance to super regionals, which begin June 10. The College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, opens June 17.

2022 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Games
Friday, June 3, 2022 (all times CENTRAL)

Knoxville Regional hosted by Tennessee

#2 Georgia Tech (34-22) vs. #3 Campbell (40-17), 11 a.m., ESPN+
#1 Tennessee (53-7) vs. #4 Alabama St (34-23), 6 p.m., SECN

Stanford Regional hosted by Stanford

#1 Stanford (41-14) vs. #4 Binghamton (22-28), 3 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Texas St. (45-12) vs. #3 UC Santa Barbara (43-12), 8 p.m., ESPN+

Corvallis Regional hosted by Oregon State

#2 Vanderbilt (36-21) vs. #3 San Diego (36-18), 3 p.m., ESPNU
#1 Oregon St. (44-15) vs. #4 New Mexico St. (24-32), 9 p.m., ESPNU

Blacksburg Regional hosted by Virginia Tech

#2 Gonzaga (36-17) vs. #3 Columbia (30-16), 12 p.m., ESPN+
#1 Virginia Tech (41-12) vs. #4 Wright St. (30-25), 6 p.m., ACCN

College Station Regional hosted by Texas A&M

#1 Texas A&M (37-18) vs. #4 Oral Roberts (38-18), 1 p.m., ESPN+
#2 TCU (36-20) vs. #3 Louisiana (36-21), 7 p.m., ESPN+

Coral Gables Regional hosted by Miami (Florida)

#1 Miami (FL) (39-18) vs. #4 Canisius (29-23), 11 a.m., ESPN+
#2 Arizona (37-23) vs. #3 Ole Miss (32-22), 6 p.m., ESPNU

Stillwater Regional hosted by Oklahoma St.

#2 Arkansas (38-18) vs. #3 Grand Canyon (41-19), 12 p.m., SECN
#1 Oklahoma St. (39-20) vs. #4 Missouri St. (30-27), 6 p.m., ESPN+

Greenville Regional hosted by East Carolina

#1 East Carolina (42-18) vs. #4 Coppin St. (24-28), 12 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Virginia (38-17) vs. #3 Coastal Carolina (36-18-1), 5 p.m., ESPN+

Austin Regional hosted by Texas

#1 Texas (42-19) vs. #4 Air Force (30-27), 1 p.m., LHN
#2 Louisiana Tech (42-19) vs. #3 DBU (34-22-1), 6:30 p.m., ESPN+

Chapel Hill Regional hosted by North Carolina

#1 North Carolina (38-19) vs. #4 Hofstra (30-21), 1 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Georgia (35-21) vs. #3 VCU (40-18), 6 p.m., ESPN+

Hattiesburg Regional hosted by Southern Mississippi

#1 Southern Miss. (43-16) vs. #4 Army West Point (31-23), 1 p.m., ESPN+
#2 LSU (38-20) vs. #3 Kennesaw St. (35-26), 6 p.m., ESPN+

Louisville Regional hosted by Louisville

#1 Louisville (38-18-1) vs. #4 Southeast Mo. St. (37-20), 1 p.m., ESPN+
#2 Oregon (35-23) vs. #3 Michigan (32-26), 6 p.m., ESPN+

Gainesville Regional hosted by Florida

#2 Oklahoma (37-20) vs. #3 Liberty (37-21), 12 p.m., ESPN+
#1 Florida (39-22) vs. #4 Central Mich. (42-17), 5:30 p.m., ESPN+

Auburn Regional hosted by Auburn

#2 UCLA (38-22) vs. #3 Florida St. (33-23), 11 a.m., ESPN2
#1 Auburn (37-19) vs. #4 Southeastern La. (30-29), 6 p.m., ESPN+

College Park Regional hosted by Maryland

#2 Wake Forest (40-17-1) vs. #3 UConn (46-13), 12 p.m., ESPNU
#1 Maryland (45-12) vs. #4 LIU (37-19), 6 p.m., ESPN+

Statesboro Regional hosted by Ga. Southern

#2 Notre Dame (35-14) vs. #3 Texas Tech (37-20), 1 p.m., ACCN
#1 Ga. Southern (40-18) vs. #4 UNC Greensboro (34-28), 6 p.m., ESPN+

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Lenny Vangilder

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Lenny was involved in college athletics starting in the early 1980s, when he began working Tulane University sporting events while still attending Archbishop Rummel High School. He continued that relationship as a student at Loyola University, where he graduated in 1987. For the next 11 years, Vangilder worked in the sports information offices at Southwestern Louisiana (now UL-Lafayette) and Tulane;…

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