Rutgers baseball made the NCAA Tournament on Monday, the selection committee rewarding the Scarlet Knights for a second-place regular-season finish in the Big Ten as well as coming in second in the Big Ten Tournament. That’s some consistency right there.
That was supposed to be the introduction for yesterday’s piece heralding the return of Rutgers baseball to the NCAA Tournament. Instead, Rutgers baseball was left out with just two Big Ten programs being included this year.
It all led to quite a bit of consternation (that’s a polite way to say anger) on social media after Rutgers was left out. Rutgers finished the season 44-15 (17-7 Big Ten) and with an RPI at No. 42.
It doesn’t seem to make a whole lot of sense and Rutgers fans on social media reacted as would be expected. Todd Frazier, for instance, made several tweets slamming the decision.
While the conspiracy theories and grassy knolls don’t quite hold up, it was clearly an unusual decision for the NCAA to overlook a strong and consistent regular season from Rutgers.
The Scarlet Knights baseball program has not made the NCAA Tournament since 2007.
A look at how everyone from WFAN’s Craig Carton to Rutgers baseball alum Todd Frazier reacted to yesterday’s news about the baseball team’s snub from the NCAA Tournament!