D1Baseball Field of 64 Projections: May 27

Postseason D1 Baseball Staff - May 27, 2023

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With conference tournaments in full swing around the country, we will be updating our projections daily leading up to Selection Monday. As we enter Saturday’s action, there are two big storylines: Will the ultra-soft bubble harden a little bit today? Which teams in the mix for the final couple of host spots will help their cases with a strong showing?

Looking at the top eight seeds, there’s no change in terms of the eight teams. However, we did keep moving Clemson up the pecking order. The Tigers won yet again at the ACC tournament and moved slightly ahead of LSU in the top-eight. Clemson has now won 22 ACC aggregate games and has a stellar 21-9 record vs. RPI Top 50, along with being the hottest team in college baseball.

In terms of the 9-16 hosts, even with a loss to Vanderbilt to get eliminated from the SEC tournament, Alabama is in strong shape to be a Top 16 seed and host. Auburn, which saw its RPI drop to 20 on Friday, should be fine with 18 SEC wins, while Miami continues to move up the pecking order with a strong showing at the ACC tournament. The Hurricanes now have an ACC aggregate record of 20-12 entering Saturday’s contest against Wake Forest. Oklahoma State and Indiana State round out our hosts, but choosing those final two hosts is a beauty pageant. Other contenders continue to include Southern Miss, South Carolina, East Carolina, Dallas Baptist and Campbell. DBU has an intriguing case with a 15 RPI to go with a dominant regular season showing in Conference USA, and the same goes for Campbell. Then, there’s Southern Miss, which has played exceptionally well down the stretch, has solid metrics, and is playing well at the Sun Belt tournament. The Golden Eagles are the team to keep an eye on entering Saturday’s action. South Carolina should continue to be mentioned as well. The Gamecocks clearly have all the metrics necessary to be a Top 16 seed and host, but we continue to believe the committee won’t give the SEC an eighth host site.

The SEC has the most projected bids with 10. The ACC is next with 8, followed by the Big 12 with seven of nine teams making the field. The Pac-12 is next up with six bids, while the Sun Belt, Big West and Big Ten each have three teams in the field. The Colonial is the only other league with multiple bids, and that’s with two in Northeastern and UNC Wilmington (the projected auto bid winner).

Mark Etheridge, Kendall Rogers and Aaron Fitt assembled the postseason projections.

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AT-LARGE LADDER:

Last four in, first four out, from strongest to weakest:

61. NC State
62. Arizona State
63. Kansas State
64. Oklahoma
—–CUTOFF—–
65. Arizona
66. Notre Dame
67. Xavier
68. Louisiana

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