LSU's late season skid dropped them down a bit, but they're still in prime position heading into the NCAA Tournament after landing the No. 5 overall seed.
They were one of four SEC teams in the top 8, with those teams not only hosting a regional in their home part, but also set up to potentially host a Super Regional.
The other three teams headed to Baton Rouge include:
- Tulane (19-40)
- Sam Houston State (38-23)
- Oregon State (39-18)
The Tigers will face off first against the Green Wave, which arrives with a fascinating story after running through the AAC Tournament as the No. 7 seed to win the auto bid. Tulane becomes the first 40-loss team to ever reach the tournament.
The matchups will break down as:
- LSU vs Tulane, 2 p.m. (central), ESPNU
- Oregon State vs Sam Houston, 7 p.m.
The regionals are double-elimination.
The Baton Rouge winner will face off against the winner of the Lexington regional, which features:
- 12. Kentucky (36-18)
- Ball State (36-21)
- Indiana (41-18)
- West Virginia (39-18)
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Wake Forest landed the No. 1 overall seed, following by Florida at 2 and Arkansas at 3. Here's how the top 8 seeds broke down:
- 1. Wake Forest (47-10)
- 2. Florida (44-14)
- 3. Arkansas (41-16)
- 4. Clemson (43-17)
- 5. LSU (43-15)
- 6. Vanderbilt (41-18)
- 7. Virginia (45-12)
- 8. Stanford (38-16)
LSU will be hosting a regional for the 27th time in program history, but its first since 2019.
A handful of other Louisiana teams are in on the action, including Nicholls State, which will be headed to the Tuscaloosa regional hosted by Alabama. UL-Lafayette will be headed to the Coral Gables regional, hosted by Miami, with the Ragin Cajuns named as one of the last four into the tournament on the ESPN selection show.
Playing host to the regional games will be a significant advantage for the Tigers, a team that spent the first 12 weeks ranked atop college baseball before a bit of a late-season swoon. LSU is 7-7 over its last 14 games, which included back-to-back 5-4 losses to Arkansas and Texas A&M at the SEC Tournament.
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LSU baseball will entire as significant favorites to advance out of the regional and will be a hot pick to make their first College World Series trip since 2017. Jay Johnson will be aiming to return to Omaha for the third time in his career, having advanced out of the Super Regionals twice with Arizona, though falling short both times. His first visit was thwarted in the 2016 title series by the same Coastal Carolina squad that upset the Tigers in Baton Rouge.
LSU has appeared in the College World Series 18 times and has six national championships, but hasn't broken through for a title since 2009. Were the Tigers to win a title in 2023, Johnson would match the same impressive mark of LSU women's basketball coach Kim Mulkey, who won an NCAA Tournament title in Year 2 with the program just months earlier.
Check back for updates, including the full schedule with times/networks.