After a year without, the Road to Omaha is once again open and the NCAA baseball Tournament begins this weekend. And for the second consecutive event, the state of Connecticut has three different representatives: UConn, Fairfield and Central Connecticut State.
In 2019 it was the Huskies, Blue Devils and Quinnipiac to all make the regionals, with each of the three winning at least one game. So what does the path to the Super Regionals look like for the 2021 bunch? Here is the competition UConn, Fairfield and CCSU will face:
UConn
Notre Dame: The Huskies will partake in the South Bend regional, taking on the Irish. The last time the two played on the diamond, it was Connecticut winning the 2013 Big East final against Notre Dame. This year the Irish have their best team in a long time, entering at 30-11 overall and running away with the ACC regular season title. While they won't blow you away with anything, they have good hitting, powered by Niko Kavadas (16 home runs, 49 RBIs), a solid pitching staff, led by ace John Michael Bertrand (3.33 ERA) and a super-reliever in Tanner Kohlhepp, and they lead the nation in fielding percentage. They don't have the star power that other national seeds do, but Link Jarrett's bunch is as fundamentally sound as they come.
Michigan: The Huskies will open up tournament play Friday night against the Wolverines. The national runners-up in 2019, the two actually met early last year, with UConn winning three of four. This year's team from Ann Arbor is hard to gauge, as the Big Ten played no non-conference games all year. The Wolverines finished 27-17, but their RPI is 88th - believed to be a record-low for an at-large team - and they ended the year losing three of four.
However they have two bonafide stud pitchers, with both Cameron Weston (2.40) and Steven Hajjar (2.85) each boasting sub-3.00 ERAs, and the staff as a whole has a 3.93 ERA, good for third in the Big Ten.
Central Michigan: The four-seed in the South Bend regional is CMU, with a 40-16 record and an eight-game win streak heading into Friday. Though they are light on power (just 15 homers all year), they have four players hitting above .299, led by Zach Gilles and his .361 average, and they have a 3.30 team ERA. Know the name Andrew Taylor - in 14 starts this year he has a 1.21 ERA with 120 strikeouts in just 89 innings. Jordan Patty isn't so shabby himself, with a 2.58 ERA in his 14 starts this season.
FAIRFIELD
Texas: The Stags received an at-large bid after going 37-3 during the year (with two of the losses coming in the MAAC Tournament), but the road beyond the first weekend is a difficult one. The Longhorns are the No. 2 overall seed in the field after going 42-15 and losing just one Big 12 series all year.
Ivan Melendez (.331, 11 HR, 45 RBIs, 1.074 OPS) is one of the more intimidating hitters in college baseball, while the pitching staff is second in the nation in ERA (2.95) behind only, coincidentally, Fairfield. Their three best starters - Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Ty Madden, Tristan Stevens and Pete Hansen - all have sub-3.00 ERAs.
Arizona State: The Stags will open up play against the Sun Devils. At 32-20 and 16-14 in Pac-12 play, it's not a historically dominant ASU team, but a good one nonetheless. Ethan Long (.340, 16 HR, 53 RBIs, 1.133 OPS) might be the best hitter in the regional and is one of five regulars hitting above .300, with another pair above the .280 mark. Where the weakness lies is on the mound, with a 5.12 team ERA and a .272 opponent batting average. Fairfield will need to hit to win on Friday, and the opportunity appears there for the taking.
Southern: The four-seed in the Austin region is Southern, who won the SWAC in one of the wildest fashions you'll ever see in the tweet below. Just 20-28 overall, the Jaguars won four straight games to close out the season and earn the school's second straight NCAA Tourney appearance.
CCSU
Oregon: The Blue Devils make their second straight tourney appearance, after coming within a few outs of going to the regional final in 2019. They'll open up against the Ducks, who finished second in the Pac-12 during the regular season. The No. 14 overall seed is solid all-around: their 3.52 team ERA is top-15 nationally, they hit .289 overall (good for top-50 in the nation) and they have an on-base machine in Aaron Zavala. The sophomore has a .398 average with 22 extra base hits, and a .538 on-base percentage fueled by an additional 49 walks. It's a tall task on Friday for CCSU, but they did beat the No. 1 seed in their regional two years ago, too.
Gonzaga: The Bulldogs are in as the West Coast Conference champions after going 33-17 during the year, including a series win at TCU and a split with Oregon State. Brett Harris is the name to watch, as he leads the team in average (.358), homers (6), doubles (17), RBIs (42) and runs (50).
LSU: The Tigers are in as an at-large as one of the last teams into the field. And it's one final ride for head coach Paul Mainieri, who announced last week this would be his last season at the helm after 15 years in Baton Rouge and 39 overall. LSU enters at 34-22 overall, though it finished just 13-17 in SEC play. They can bop, with 80 homers as a team and three hitters with an OPS over 1.000 (Tre' Morgan, Dylan Crews and Gavin Dugas). Beyond starter Landon Marceaux and his 2.26 ERA, though, the starting pitching has been a bit suspect.