NCAA Division I Baseball Championships take the 64-school field Friday

Defending champion Florida the No. 1 seed, 11th seed Stetson hosting for the first time, and 2016 champion Coastal Carolina again in the hunt as the 15th seed

By Arnie Leshin 

Lately, defending champion Florida hasn’t looked that good, losing twice in the NCAA SEC Division I tournament to Mississippi and LSU, but having had a stellar regular season, the Gators are the top seed in the baseball championships that start Friday and runs through the weekend.

Instead of the usual eight seeds, it is now 16 to serve as hosts when the 64-school field makes its initial pitch. Florida won the World Series in Omaha, Neb. last year for the first time when it swept LSU in the best-of-three.

But state rival Florida State, the 7th seed, is making its 41st straight appearance but has yet to finish first. Head coach Mike Martin has been running the Seminole program for quite some time and has won more games overall than any other coach in the tournament.

Currently, FSU is 43-17, and Martin is not frustrated, just wants to finally hoist the championship trophy.

“Every time we play,” he said, “I like the sound of doing that, but I’m still waiting, perhaps this time, who knows?”

His team began surprising Stetson’s 15-straight win streak by losing to the Hatters back in April. The Deland, Fla, school where New York Mets’ star pitcher Jacob deGrom played both shortstop and pitcher, will host the Region for the first time. It has played in 17 regional games and has never advanced past the first round. It is 29-3 at home, 45-11 overall, and is ranked 11th nationally.

The Hatters will have South Florida, Oklahoma State and first-timer Hartford in their bracket. South Florida is the No. 2 seed in the Region.

The second seed overall is Stanford (44-10). Next comes Oregon State (44-10) followed by Mississippi (46-15), Arkansas (39-18), North Carolina (38-18), FSU and Georgia (37-19).

The next eight are Texas Tech (39-17), Clemson (45-14), Stetson, East Carolina (43-16), Texas (37-20), Minnesota (44-13), 2016 national champion Coastal Carolina (42-17), and North Carolina State (40-16).

Before FSU became the team with the most appearances in a row, it was Miami with 44 straight, but for the second straight year, the Hurricanes did not make the field.

SEC has a record-tying 10 schools in the field, and the conference also has half of the top eight in play. Big 10 champion Minnesota is making its first appearance since 2000 and will play host to a good UCLA team, Gonzaga, and Canisius.

The Bruins are a 2nd seed in the Region, and the other No. 2 seeds that could cause problems are LSU, Louisville, Baylor, Duke, Indiana, and South Carolina.

The last four that made the field were Dallas Baptist (40-19), Northwestern State (36-19), Oklahoma State (29-24-1), and Troy (41-19). The last four left out were Arizona, Illinois, Kentucky and Central Florida. Kentucky fell short by losing its last four starts.

New Mexico State has made the field and will play at Texas Tech, a familiar opponent it has played eight times since 2012, but the Aggies are also 1-8 versus Tech, and lost 12-0 and 2-1 this season. New Mexico State will open against host Texas Tech, and also in the Region are Louisville and Kent State.

Hartford, gaining the field for the first time, is 26-29.

From the Regional comes the 16 teams remaining in the Super Regional best-of-three that runs from June 8th to the 11th. The eight survivors move on to the World Series that will be played from June 16 to the 23rd at Ameritrade Park.

Play ball.