2022 Field Of 64 Projections: May 18

Postseason D1Baseball Staff - May 18, 2022

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We’re a couple of weeks away from from Selection Monday, and as you might expect, teams across the country are jockeying for position.

Don’t see your team as a top eight or top 16 seed? Don’t fret just yet. Things can change on a whim, as you’ll notice in this week’s batch of our Field of 64 postseason projections.

There are plenty of changes to report in this week’s projections:

The race for one of the top eight national seeds continues to be hotly contested, and there are two changes in that department this week — Arkansas and Oklahoma State are out, and Stanford and Maryland are in the top eight this week. The Cardinal is one of the hottest teams in college baseball with nine-straight wins and is currently just a single game back from Oregon State in the Pac-12 standings. Stanford’s RPI has improved to 12 over the past week. As for Maryland, it is having a historic season with already the most wins in school history — 42 — and its RPI is up to nine as the top team in the Big Ten. Texas A&M and Oklahoma State were the next two teams in our top eight pecking order, with the Aggies having a strong claim as the SEC West leader. A road series win over Ole Miss this weekend would aid that lagging RPI and likely push the Aggies back in the top eight.

In terms of the other host sites, there are three new additions this week: Vanderbilt, Florida State and Texas Tech. Those three teams replace LSU, Southern Miss, and Virginia. Vandy is surging at the right time, already has an excellent RPI, and we’re projecting the Commodores to win that home series against LSU this weekend to put themselves in even better position. Florida State is trending the right direction, has a strong RPI and has a treasure chest of high-end series wins and Texas Tech is the final new host. The Red Raiders are red-hot right now coming off a road series sweep over Oklahoma State, and their RPI is problematic at 33. However, we’re projecting the Red Raiders to win the Oklahoma series this weekend, to be a consensus top-five team in the human polls, and to host a regional as a Top 16 team.

In terms overall team changes in the entire field, we switched the automatic bids in the MVC and NEC to Dallas Baptist and Long Island, respectively, while as for at-large bids, Old Dominion, Clemson, and UTSA entered the field this week. Wake Forest and Mercer are out of the latest field, while Evansville, which previously was our AQ out of the MVC, is out of the field as well.

Here are the latest projections, assembled by our Kendall Rogers, Aaron Fitt and Mark Etheridge.

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AT-LARGE LADDER

LAST FOUR IN:

61. Georgia Tech

62. UTSA

63. Clemson

64. Old Dominion

FIRST FOUR OUT:

65. Wake Forest

66. Mercer

67. Middle Tennessee

68. Louisiana

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D1Baseball Projected Field of 64: May 11
KNOXVILLE		SPOKANE
1 Tennessee* (1)		1 Gonzaga* (16)
4 Delaware State*		4 Pennsylvania*
2 Connecticut*		2 Oregon
3 Clemson		3 NC State
CORVALLIS		LUBBOCK
1 Oregon State* (2)		1 Texas Tech* (15)
4 North Dakota State*		4 Campbell*
2 Oklahoma		2 LSU
3 Grand Canyon*		3 Arizona
BLACKSBURG		NASHVILLE
1 Virginia Tech (3)		1 Vanderbilt (14)
4 Long Island*		4 Davidson*
2 East Carolina*		2 Southern Miss*
3 West Virginia		3 Liberty*
CORAL GABLES		FAYETTEVILLE
1 Miami* (4)		1 Arkansas (13)
4 Florida A&M*		4 SE Missouri State*
2 Florida		2 Texas
3 Rutgers		3 Louisiana Tech
AUBURN		TALLAHASSEE
1 Auburn (5)		1 Florida State* (12)
4 Maine*		4 Coll. of Charleston*
2 Georgia Southern		2 Georgia
3 North Carolina		3 Coastal Carolina*
STANFORD		SOUTH BEND
1 Stanford (6)		1 Notre Dame (11)
4 UNLV*		4 Ball State*
2 UC Santa Barbara*		2 Dallas Baptist*
3 San Diego		3 UCLA
COLLEGE PARK		STILLWATER
1 Maryland* (7)		1 Oklahoma State (10)
4 Fairfield*		4 Army*
2 Virginia		2 Texas State
3 Old Dominion		3 Georgia Tech
LOUISVILLE		COLLEGE STATION
1 Louisville (8)		1 Texas A&M (9)
4 Wright State*		4 McNeese*
2 Wofford		2 TCU
3 Ole Miss		3 UTSA