The NCAA Baseball Committee unveiled the field for this season’s NCAA Tournament on May 26. Vanderbilt (42-16, 22-11 SEC) successfully qualified for the NCAA postseason for a record 19th year in a row and earned the No. 1 overall seed for the first time since 2007.
Vanderbilt has hit another gear as of late, becoming one of the hottest teams in college baseball. The Commodores finished the regular season by winning their last three SEC weekend series, including a sweep of Kentucky to close conference play. In the SEC Tournament, Vanderbilt conquered the conference, outlasting Oklahoma, run-ruling defending national champions Tennessee and defeating Ole Miss 3-2 to take a hefty piece of hardware back to Nashville.
The VandyBoys have not advanced past regionals since 2021, when they advanced to the College World Series Championship but fell to Mississippi State. In last year’s tournament, the Commodores did not earn a win, as they were eliminated by Coastal Carolina in the Clemson Regional. However, breaking this drought won’t be easy. The Commodores will face a familiar foe in the Nashville Regional, alongside two tough squads that cannot be overlooked.
No. 2 Louisville (35-21)
Locked into the No. 2 seed is the Louisville Cardinals, a team that bested Vanderbilt in a one-off midweek game, 5-4, on May 6 in Louisville, Kentucky. The Cardinals are 4-1 against teams seeded in the national top five for the Tournament, so they’ll be a more than formidable opponent.
Outside of those select wins, Louisville has struggled recently. It lost four of its last five conference series and went one-and-done in the ACC tournament. Still, Louisville competes in a highly competitive conference, and its roster is filled with elite talent. Similar to Vanderbilt, Louisville isn’t stacked with power hitters, instead filling its lineup with a balance of quality hitters that have various skill sets.
Louisville leadoff hitter Lucas Moore is an immediate threat, leading his unit in both batting average (.373) and stolen bases (46). However, the true power arrives in the middle of its lineup with Eddie King Jr. and Zion Rose, who have combined for 25 home runs and 111 RBIs this season. Louisville’s pitching is the biggest concern, as the staff ranks in the bottom five of the ACC in ERA, walks and home runs allowed. With great offensive teams like Vanderbilt and ETSU in the mix, pitching may be the Cardinals’ downfall.
No. 3 East Tennessee State (41-15)
The No. 3 seed for the Nashville Regional is the East Tennessee State Buccaneers. One of the nation’s most explosive offenses, ETSU may be the toughest team in this regional group. Firstly, the Buccaneers have shown they can hang with their high-major opponents, knocking off Tennessee when it was ranked No. 1 in the country and playing No. 4 Georgia close in an 8-6 loss in March.
East Tennessee State boasts a lineup that has the perfect blend of power and contact. Out of its eight qualified hitters, five hit at the .300 mark or better and the lowest of the eight sits at .281. As a team, the Buccaneers have hit 116 home runs and possess a slugging percentage of .568, ranking 4th in the nation for both categories. The pitching staff, like Louisville, isn’t a strength but is still relatively solid. Nationally, ETSU’s pitching is ranked highly (29th nationally in ERA and 25th in WHIP), despite giving up 6.3 runs per game across its last ten contests.
No. 4 Wright State (38-19)
Horizon League champion Wright State rounds out the regional, making the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the last five years. Although a frequent participant, the Raiders haven’t won a regional matchup since 2016.
Like the other teams in the regional, the pitching is a concern while their advantage comes at the plate. Wright State’s pitching staff holds a 6.31 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP, with opponents batting at .268 this year. While it’s not clear who specifically will take the mound against the Commodores on Friday, the Raiders will likely use a wide variety of arms to slow down the red-hot Vanderbilt offense.
Wright State’s lineup primarily consists of left-handed bats. Six qualified hitters are batting over .300 for the season, and this group averaged 9.4 runs per game in their five contests in the Horizon League Tournament. Still, questions remain regarding the pitching staff and whether the Raiders’ bats can get any momentum against an elite Vanderbilt defense.
The Nashville Regional will officially kick off at Hawkins Field on Friday, May 30, with Louisville facing ETSU at 1 p.m. CDT. Vanderbilt and Wright State will follow shortly after at 5 p.m. CDT.
