College Baseball Super Regionals 2016: Bracket, Live-Stream Info and Predictions
Most top seeds advanced to the college baseball super regionals, setting up a stacked group of remaining squads. Yet a few notable surprises shook up the early tournament stage.
Last year's championship competitors, Virginia and Vanderbilt, were both promptly booted from the double-elimination regional round. While those prestigious No. 1 seeds watch from home, No. 3 East Carolina and No. 2 UC Santa Barbara are two wins away from the College World Series.
After surviving four-team regions, the 16 winners will get paired off for a best-of-three series, with the victors advancing to double-elimination quadrants. The last two standing settle the score in another best-of-three slate.
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Let's take a closer look at three of the tournament's eight super regional matchups.
| No. 1 Florida vs. No. 1 Florida State | Florida |
| No. 1 NC State or No. 2 Coastal Carolina* vs. No. 1 LSU or No. 2 Rice | NC State |
| No. 1 Texas Tech vs. No. 3 East Carolina | Texas Tech |
| No. 1 TCU vs. No. 1 Texas A&M | Texas A&M |
| No. 1 Louisville vs. No. 2 UC Santa Barbara | Louisville |
| No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. No. 1 South Carolina or No. 2 UNC Wilmington | Oklahoma State |
| No. 1 Mississippi State vs. No. 2 Arizona | Arizona |
| No. 1 Miami (Fla.) vs. No. 3 Boston College | Miami |
*Postponed due to the rain on Monday night, the game will resume on Tuesday. NC State leads 5-3 with one out in the top of the ninth inning. Coastal Carolina has the bases loaded.
Updated Bracket: NCAA.com
Live Stream: WatchESPN
Florida vs. Florida State
Top seeds and geographic rivals will collide in Gainesville after Florida and Florida State swept their way through regionals.
The Gators claimed their 50th win of the season on Sunday, when they scored 10 runs against Georgia Tech to advance. Returning from a broken bone in his left hand, Peter Alonso went 8-for-13 with three homers during the three regional victories.
"I wanted to be out there,” Alonso told the Florida Times-Union's Garry Smits regarding his injury. “It was frustrating. I’m glad to be back and help the team any way I can.”
Following his triumphant return, the junior first baseman is batting .368/.464/.632 with a team-high 12 home runs. Florida will need him to stay hot against Florida State, which scored 43 runs in the opening round.
In a three-game stretch, the Seminoles twice earned an 18-6 triumph. They belted six long balls during their latest victory over South Alabama, upping their cumulative team OPS to .871. They're a significant force behind the tournament's power uptick pointed out by NCAA Baseball's Twitter page:
Luckily for Florida, its fiery pitching staff wields a 3.02 ERA with 9.78 strikeouts per nine innings. Look for A.J. Puk—who is poised to get selected early in Thursday's MLB amateur draft—to bounce back from a rough regional outing and guide the Gators into the final eight.
Prediction: Florida in three
TCU vs. Texas A&M
In a rematch from last year's super regionals, Texas A&M will attempt to exact revenge against TCU.
They'll have a tough time living up to their previous three-game showdown, which ended in the Horned Frogs seizing a 16-inning thriller over the No. 4-seed Aggies. Now the venue shifts to College Station with neither top seed playing the underdog role.
Having scored 71 runs during their seven-game winning streak, the SEC champions are riding high. On their way through regionals, the Aggies trounced Wake Forest for 22 runs. The outburst personified an offense that dominates with little fence-clearing power.
TCU instead relied on pitching, allowing four runs over three victories. At the plate, the offense displayed its patience by drawing 18 walks. Yet a year after reaching the College World Series, the school didn't celebrate its early tournament success.
Per the Forth Worth Star-Telegram's Carlos Mendez, TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle set the bar higher for a program searching for its first title:
"It’s hard to get in the NCAA tournament, it’s really hard to host, and it’s even harder to win. We don’t want to downplay that. But at the same time, there’s a level of expectation among the players and the coaches. They don’t go to the weight room at 6 a.m. in the fall to win a regional; they go to the weight room at 6 a.m. to win a national championship.
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The Aggies have only dropped five home games this year, and they should receive another stellar start from sophomore Brigham Hill, who boasts a 1.95 ERA and 9.45 K/9. Consider them a top contender to win it all.
Prediction: Texas A&M in three
Miami (Fla.) vs. Boston College
One of the tournament's early surprises, No. 3 Boston College beat Tulane and the hosting Ole Miss to conquer the Oxford region. The Eagles now face a steep challenge in the top-seed Miami Hurricanes.
Recording a .353 team slugging percentage, the Eagles won't pull off another upset without tremendous pitching. They can at least count on ace Justin Dunn, who boosted his draft stock by amassing a season-high 11 strikeouts against Tulane on Friday. After allowing two runs over seven innings, the junior sports a 1.49 ERA.
The Hurricanes finished the season brandishing a No. 3 national rank, but they hardly stormed through their region. They accrued all three wins by one run apiece, needing 11 innings to extinguish Long Beach State before winning the rematch in walk-off fashion. The Dirtbags hurt their own cause by committing four total errors.
Their subdued offense is too potent to remain subdued. Five of their starters hold on-base percentages above .420. Junior catcher Zack Collins leads the charge with a .534 clip and 13 homers.
Outside of Dunn, Boston College doesn't boast the firepower to keep up with a powerhouse like Miami.
Prediction: Miami in two
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