Fresh off of a Pac-12 Conference Title and Pac-12 Tournament Title, Arizona Baseball (36-21) will open the Regional round as a host in Tucson!
Will Arizona Baseball host a Regional in the NCAA Tournament? That was seemingly the million-dollar question that was plaguing Wildcat fans everywhere over the past 24 hours or so.
And thanks to a miraculous run over the last two months that resulted in a 20-10 finish in the Pac-12 that netted a conference regular season title and conference tournament title, it appears that the Wildcats just did enough to get the nod.
Despite the various projections entering Sunday that showed Arizona may have to travel for the Regional round, it was announced via social that there will indeed be baseball action at Hi Corbett Field next weekend.
TUCSON REGIONAL
— NCAA Baseball (@NCAABaseball) May 27, 2024
HOST: @ArizonaBaseball #RoadToOmaha pic.twitter.com/TMmN0QYnty
With a Tournament Résumé that is sure to cause some fans to be disgruntled, Arizona Baseball will get its shot at hosting a Regional.
Arizona enters Tournament play with a 36-21 (20-10) record and an RPI of 31 (the lowest ranking of all the host schools); however, what likely gave the Cats the advantage here was that they had the No. 1 ranked Strength of Schedule in the Non-Conference. And beyond that, Arizona was just one of five schools to win the Regular Season Title and Conference Tournament Title.
As it stands, the rest of the field is to be determined, so that means Arizona doesn't know who it will host just yet. However, getting one of the designated 16 Regional spots is huge for home-field advantage, seeding, matchups, etc.
If you were to follow current projections, according to D1Baseball, it appears that Arizona may play host to (2) UC Irvine, (3) TCU, and (4) Grand Canyon.
Of course, this can all change, but the Wildcats will find out its Regional opponents on Monday when the selection show happens at 9 AM (local time) on ESPN2.
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