Florida playing in toughest regional in D1 baseball bracket

Florida baseball made it to the NCAA Tournament, but the Gators will have to get through what some are calling the toughest regional in the Field of 64.

Florida is playing in the toughest of the 16 regionals in the 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament, according to Michella Chester of NCAA.com.

The Stillwater Regional features three conference tournament winners — host and No. 1 seed Oklahoma State in the Big 12, No. 2 Nebraska in the Big Ten and No. 4 Niagara in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Florida is the only team that didn’t win its tournament, but the SEC is well-acknowledged as the toughest conference in the country.

“Chapel Hill, Stillwater and Clemson stood out as having the (regions),” Chester said. “Maybe ECU, too, with Wake Forest in there and Norman with Duke. But in picking the toughest (region), I wanted to go with one that had three or four teams that could come out on top.

Chester likes Nebraska‘s chances after a hot run in the Big Ten Tournament, but Florida can play like the best team in the country on any given day.

“Florida, a bubble team, could have missed the tournament based on their record, ” she said. “But they have one of the best talents in [autotag]Jac Caglianone[/autotag], and who knows what version of the Gators you might see in the postseason with it all on the line.”

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