2023 Fall Report: UC Irvine

In the 64-team era of the NCAA baseball tournament, Omaha has been dominated by teams currently stationed in the Pac-12, Big 12, ACC, and SEC. In fact, the number of programs to have made multiple trips to the College World Series who are not current members of those leagues equals four: Cal State Fullerton, Rice, UC Irvine, and Tulane. Of those four programs, three are in the middle of rebuilds. One returns an Omaha-caliber roster for 2024. That one is UC Irvine.

This is a program with a lot going for it. The school is located in the general area[…]