Miami Baseball will not host June NCAA Tournament regional

With a 27-15 overall record and 15-14 in the ACC, the Miami baseball team was bypassed as a regional host June 4-7. The NCAA released 20 potential sites that will be trimmed to 16 regionals on May 31. The announcement from the NCAA means the Hurricanes will be on the road for the NCAA Baseball Tournament in June.

Ranked 22nd in the RPI, Miami is likely to be two seed in the regionals and no worse than a three seed. The NCAA is choosing pre-determined sites for the first time instead of awarding the regional sites to the 16 top seeds for the Tournament. Notre Dame and Pittsburgh are the two ACC teams in the running to host a regional.

The Fighting Irish lead the ACC with a 22-10 record and their 26-10 overall record also tops the conference. The Panthers are second in the ACC Coastal Division with a 16-11 record and overall at 22-13. Georgia Tech leads the Coastal at 18-12 overall and are 24-18 overall. Miami’s 27-15 overall record leads the Coastal.

The Miami baseball team can greatly improve their RPI and still win the Coastal regular season with series left against Georgia Tech this weekend and at Louisville next weekend. The Hurricanes also have a home game against Florida Atlantic on Tuesday. The ACC Tournament is May 25-30 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

What could hurt Miami when the NCAA Tournament committee meets later this month is their 16-5 record at home and 11-10 mark on the road. The series at Louisville and how the Hurricanes perform in the NCAA Tournament could have a great determinant on where they are seeded.

Teams cannot play in regionals with conference rivals. For Miami that likely means trips to Pittsburgh or South Bend are out. Eleven programs in the Southeast including Florida are among the 20 named teams. Non Power Five Conference programs Charlotte, East Carolina, Gonzaga, Southern Miss and Lousiana Tech are finalists.

The Super Regionals which are usually selected among the top eight seeded teams who advance from the regionals will be selected ahead of time from the 16 programs that host the first weekend.

Miami is projected as the three seed in the Austin regional hosted by Texas according to D1Baseball.Com. Baseball America has Miami as the three seed in the Lubbock, Texas regional that would be hosted by Texas Tech. In their last NCAA Tournament in 2019, Miami was the Starkville, Mississippi Regional runner-up.