It’s finally here: the first weekend of the college baseball tournament. Over the next four days, 64 teams in 16 cities spread across the country will play between 96 and 112 games — at least 29 more than are played in the entire month of March Madness combined.
That’s a lot of baseball to watch — and yes, you can watch every single game through WatchESPN.com — so to make things easier, we’re tracking schedules, scores and recaps here in this post. Convenient, eh?
First, a brief rundown for those wondering what the heck a regional is and how it works. It’s a four-team, double-elimination mini-tournament held at the home ballpark of the top-seeded school in the group. You start with the 1-seed vs. the 4 and the 2 vs. the 3, then play double-elimination until there’s only one team left standing. That school moves on to the second round.
Here’s a quick look at what the format for each regional looks like:
Friday
Game 1: 3 seed vs. 2 seed
Game 2: 4 seed vs. 1 seed
Saturday
Game 3: loser of Game 1 vs. loser of Game 2
Game 4: winner of Game 1 vs. winner of Game 2
Sunday
Game 5: winner of Game 3 vs. loser of Game 4
Game 6: winner of Game 4 vs. winner of Game 5
Monday
Game 7 (if necessary): winner of Game 6 vs. loser of Game 6
***
And here’s the complete bracket, via NCAA.com:
And finally, the schedule and scores for the first round, divided by regional. We’ll add the TBD games as they become set.
(National seeds are in parentheses.)
Baton Rouge
Friday
4 Lehigh vs. (2) LSU — 4 p.m. ET
3 Tulane vs. 2 UNC Wilmington — 8 p.m. ET
Champaign
Friday
3 Wright State vs. 2 Notre Dame — 1 p.m. ET
4 Ohio vs. (6) Illinois — 8 p.m. ET
College Station
Friday
3 California vs. 2 Coastal Carolina — 1 p.m. ET
4 Texas Southern vs. 1 Texas A&M — 7 p.m. ET
Coral Gables
Friday
3 Columbia vs. 2 East Carolina — 1 p.m. ET
4 Florida International vs. (5) Miami — 7 p.m. ET
Dallas
Friday
3 Texas vs. 2 Oregon State — 2:30 p.m. ET
4 VCU vs. 1 Dallas Baptist — 7 p.m. ET
Fort Worth
Friday
3 Stony Brook vs. 2 NC State — 3:30 p.m. ET
4 Sacred Heart vs. (7) TCU — 8 p.m. ET
Fullerton
Friday
3 Clemson vs. 2 Arizona State — 6 p.m. ET
4 Pepperdine vs. 1 Cal State Fullerton — 10 p.m. ET
Gainesville
Friday
3 South Florida vs. 2 Florida Atlantic — 1 p.m. ET
4 Florida A&M vs. (4) Florida — 7 p.m. ET
Houston
Friday
3 Louisiana-Lafayette vs. 2 Rice — 3:30 p.m. ET
4 Houston Baptist vs. 1 Houston — 8 p.m. ET
Lake Elsinore
Friday
3 Virginia vs. 2 USC — 6 p.m. ET
4 San Diego State vs. 1 UC Santa Barbara — 10 p.m. ET
Louisville
Friday
3 Michigan vs. 2 Bradley — 2 p.m. ET
4 Morehead State vs. (3) Louisville — 6 p.m. ET
Los Angeles
Friday
3 Maryland vs. 2 Ole Miss — 7 p.m. ET
4 Bakersfield vs. (1) UCLA — 11 p.m. ET
Nashville
Friday
3 Indiana vs. 2 Radford — 3 p.m. ET
4 Lipscomb vs. 1 Vanderbilt — 8 p.m. ET
Springfield
Friday
3 Oregon vs. 2 Iowa — 2 p.m. ET
4 Canisius vs. (8) Missouri State — 7 p.m. ET
Stillwater
Friday
3 Oral Robers vs. 2 Arkansas — 1 p.m. ET
4 St. John’s vs. 1 Oklahoma State — 7 p.m. ET
Tallahassee
Friday
3 Auburn vs. 2 College of Charleston — noon ET
4 Mercer vs. 1 Florida State — 6 p.m. ET
