Vanderbilt earns No. 1 seed in NCAA baseball tournament; record 13 SEC teams are in 64-team field

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Vanderbilt’sRiley Nelson during an NCAA baseball game against Air Force, Feb. 18, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/John Amis, File)

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Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin walks on the field during an NCAA regional college tournament baseball game against Xavier, June 4, 2023, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey, File)

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The NCAA logo is seen on a baseball during an NCAA college baseball tournament regional game between Louisiana-Lafayette and Mississippi State in Lafayette, La., Monday, June 2, 2014. (AP Photo/Jonathan Bachman, file)

By ERIC OLSON

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Vanderbilt, which gave up just three runs over three games in the SEC Tournament, was awarded the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament on Monday and was among a record 13 teams from the conference to be selected to the 64-team field.

The tournament opens Friday with 16 double-elimination regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha beginning June 13.

Vanderbilt has won eight straight games and 13 of its past 16 to earn the No. 1 seed for the second time, and first since 2007.

“It’s amazing, it’s cool, it’s great, I love it,” shortstop Jonathan Vastine said. “The team was excited about it. After today, that No. 1 seed kind of goes out the door because anything can happen.”

The Commodores, who play Wright State in the opener of the Nashville Regional, are in the tournament for the 19th straight time for the longest active streak.

“We understand we have a goal at the end of the year to get to the middle of the country,” pitcher JD Thompson said, referring to Omaha. “You can’t de-value anybody coming into a regional like this. It’s all good teams, so you respect everybody. If we play good baseball and keep the trend of what we’re doing right now, then we have a good chance.”

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Play ball! Things to know entering the NCAA baseball regionals

NCAA Division I Baseball Regionals Glance

The national seeds following Vanderbilt (42-16) are Texas (42-12), Arkansas (43-13), Auburn (38-18), North Carolina (42-12), LSU (43-14), Georgia (42-15) and Oregon State (41-12-1). Those eight teams would be in line to host super regionals if they win their regionals.

Seeds Nos. 9 through 16: Florida State (38-14), Mississippi (40-19), Clemson (44-16), Oregon (42-14), Coastal Carolina (48-11), Tennessee (43-16), UCLA (42-16) and Southern Mississippi (44-14).

The last four teams to get at-large bids, in alphabetical order, were Arizona State, Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Southern California.

The first four teams left out were Southeastern Louisiana, Troy, UConn and Virginia.

The SEC’s 13 teams in the tournament are two more than its record 11 that made it in 2024.

The Atlantic Coast Conference has nine teams in the field followed by the Big 12 with eight and the Big Ten with four. The American Athletic, Big West, Conference USA and Sun Belt all have two teams in the tournament.

First-year SEC member Texas, which opened 38-5 overall and 19-2 in conference play, appeared to be a lock for the No. 1 seed before finishing 5-7 with a loss to Tennessee in its conference tournament opener. Arkansas won 20 SEC regular-season games for the third straight year and set a program record with 110 homers. Auburn’s No. 4 national seed ties the 2003 team for the highest in program history.

Been there, done that

Texas is in the tournament for a record 64th time. Miami, which lost six of its past seven games, is making its 50th appearance. Florida State will be a regional host for a Division I-record 37th time.

The longest active streaks behind Vanderbilt belong to Florida (17), LSU (13), Oklahoma State (12) and Dallas Baptist (11).

First timer

USC Upstate (36-23) is the only team that will be making its first appearance in the Division I tournament. The Spartans had played in three straight Big South championship games before breaking through to beat Charleston Southern 14-2 Saturday to clinch the league’s automatic bid.

Home sweet home, finally

Oregon State earned home field for regionals and potentially super regionals as the No. 8 seed after having to play 35 of its 54 games away from Corvallis. The Beavers are 17-2 at home.

Hot Huskies

Northeastern (48-9) has the nation’s longest win streak at 27 games after winning the Coastal Athletic Association Tournament. The Huskies lead the nation in shutouts (17), win percentage (.842) and ERA (2.92), among other categories.

Losing, but winning

Two teams enter the tournament with losing records.

Little Rock (24-32) won five games in four days to win the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament, and its reward is a first-round game at LSU. The Trojans, at No. 8, became the lowest seed to win the conference tournament. They’re in NCAAs for the first time since 2011.

North Dakota State (20-32) won the Summit League Tournament for its first appearance since 2021 and will play Arkansas The Bison have the No. 1 nonconference strength of schedule, having gone 1-10 against teams that made the tournament.

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AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports