College Baseball Super Regionals 2017: Bracket, Live Stream Info and Predictions
The 2017 NCAA baseball season continues to march toward what will be another thrilling conclusion at the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska.
But before that event begins June 17, the NCAA Super Regionals will take place, giving each of this year's most deserving teams an opportunity to earn passage to the final event.
All Super Regionals are best-of-three series and will be live-streamed at WatchESPN.com.
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The Florida Gators will take on the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in one of the most anticipated Super Regionals.
Wake Forest (42-18) advanced to its first Super Regional since 1999 as a result of its 12-8 victory over West Virginia in the regional round.
The Demon Deacons are a slugging team that became the first NCAA outfit to reach 100 homers in a season since the 2010 Auburn Tigers.
Gavin Sheets is Wake Forest's top slugger with 20 homers, while Johnny Aiello has 18 home runs and Stuart Fairchild has contributed 17 long balls.
The Deacons are going to be tough to stop as long as their hitting holds up. They have a season-long team batting average of .311 and a .513 slugging percentage.
Meanwhile, they have limited their opponents to a .249 batting average and just 44 home runs.
Florida (45-17) advanced to the Super Regionals for the seventh time in nine years as a result of its 6-1 victory over Bethune-Cookman Monday. Freshman Austin Langworthy came through with a dominant effort in the win with four innings of sharp relief pitching as well as a three-run homer.
Langworthy told the Gators website that he was able to turn on a breaking ball when he belted his sixth-inning home run.
"It was a breaking ball that backed up, he threw me a couple earlier in the at bat so I figured that one was going to back up as well, so I just sat in and it happened to be there and I got good barrel to it," Langworthy said.
Nelson Maldonado is leading the way for the Florida offense with a .331 batting average and a .491 slugging percentage. JJ Schwarz leads the Gators with 10 home runs.
The difference in power between these teams is dramatic, since Florida belted 44 long balls on the season. The team allowed just 27 home runs.
Prediction
The Deacons should be able to advance based on their superior power. Florida is a feisty and tough team, but Wake Forest's fire power should make the difference.
Super Regional Matchups (per NCAA.com), Dates and Locations to follow (per Texas A&M website)
Oregon State vs. Vanderbilt
California State-Fullerton vs. Long Beach State
Florida State vs. Sam Houston State
Louisiana State vs. Mississippi State
Texas A&M vs. Davidson
Louisville vs. Kentucky
Missouri State vs. TCU
Wake Forest vs. Florida
The Texas A&M Aggies will take on Davidson in another Super Regional.
The Aggies (39-21) advanced as a result of their 4-3 victory over Houston Monday. The Aggies earned their third straight regional title with the win over the Cougars.
Braden Shewmake is the top offensive threat for the Aggies with a .339 batting average, 11 home runs and 67 runs batted in. He has gotten quite a bit of help from Nick Choruby, who is hitting .314 and has 70 hits. Cole Bedford is hitting .301 for the Aggies and has three home runs.
The Aggies are hitting .275 as a team, significantly better than their opponents' .238. They have also outhomered their opponents 47-38.
Davidson (35-24) is something of a Cinderella team after registering a 2-1 victory over the North Carolina Tar Heels in Sunday's regional to get to the Super Regionals.
The Wildcats are led by Will Robertson, who is hitting .336 this season with 18 home runs. Eric Jones is batting .318 and has hammered nine home runs, while Alec Acosta is hitting .316 and has 74 hits. Davidson has outhomered its opponents 70-50.
Prediction
Davidson has been a great story to this point and its victory over North Carolina will likely serve as its highlight. Texas A&M is a well-rounded and talent team that should survive and advance.
All stats and information from university athletic department websites unless otherwise noted.
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