Louisiana again has chance to put 4 teams in NCAA baseball field

Each of the last three years, Louisiana has placed four teams in the NCAA baseball tournament.

Will the streak reach four when the bracket is announced three weeks from today?

At first glance, the chances look pretty good, but things have to break right.

First, there is the case of LSU (31-18), which has made the field of 64 every year since 2012 and is trying to become the first defending national champion to reach the tournament in three years.

The Tigers’ RPI is 34, according to WarrenNolan.com, after winning two of three at home last weekend at then-No. 1 Texas A&M. At first glance, that suggests at-large berth.

But at 9-15 in Southeastern Conference play, LSU currently ranks tied for 11th in the 14-team league, Moreover, its RPI is 12th-best in the conference, and its four Quad 1 victories  – half of which came this weekend  – are the fewest among the top 12 SEC teams.

It probably takes 13 conference wins – meaning four more over the last two regular-season weekends – for Jay Johnson’s team to legitimately be in the discussion. Teams with better RPIs have been left out of the field because of conference record and standing.

The Tigers’ final two series aren’t just critical for getting to that 13-win threshold, but for who they play.

Alabama is 10-14 in conference play but with a RPI of 14, and Ole Miss is also 9-15 in SEC games with an RPI of 25. A chance for LSU to put itself ahead of those two teams in the pecking order may be every bit as important as the final win total over the final two weekends.

Two other Louisiana teams are currently in the top 50 of the RPI. Louisiana Tech (35-15) is No. 45 and Louisiana (34-15) is No. 50.

Tech is currently tied for second in Conference USA with a 12-6 league record, one game behind Western Kentucky and even with Dallas Baptist. While DBU and Tech are at-large candidates, WKU has an RPI of 91.

The Ragin’ Cajuns, at 18-6 in Sun Belt play, are two games clear of Troy with six games to play after a dramatic 10-inning victory over the Trojans Sunday to salvage the final game of their weekend series.

The Sun Belt will be an interesting case as it relates to conference standing and the RPI. The top-ranked team in the RPI, No. 32 Coastal Carolina, is currently tied for eighth in the league, while the top nine teams in the standings are all in the top 75 of the RPI, suggesting the league tournament in Montgomery, Alabama, could be wide open.

The only other top-100 RPI team in Louisiana is Nicholls at No. 90. The Colonels (26-17, 12-6) are currently second to Lamar in the Southland Conference, with New Orleans (23-21 against Division I, 11-7 conference) along in third just a game back.

A Louisiana school has claimed the Southland tournament title every year since 2016.

In a tightly-packed SWAC Western Division, Grambling (16-6) is in a virtual tie for first with Texas Southern (15-5), with Southern (13-9) in fourth. The SWAC tournament is in Atlanta May 22-26.