The 2024 college baseball season is officially into its stretch run.
With the calendar turning to May and only three weekend series remaining in the regular season for most leagues, conference tournaments are scheduled to get underway in less than a month. The SEC Tournament is slated to begin Tuesday, March 21 at the Hoover Met in Birmingham.
With that, various publications are ramping up their weekly Field of 64 projections for the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament. In those projections, Arkansas (38-7 overall) and Texas A&M (39-6) are considered the heavy favorites to land the top overall seed when Regional host sites are announced later this month.
The Aggies and Razorbacks are ranked Nos. 1 and 2, respectively, in every major poll this week, including the USA TODAY Sports baseball coaches poll.
The two teams will meet for a pivotal three-game series to close the regular season in College Station beginning Thursday, March 16.
According to On3’s Field of 64 projections this week, the winner of that series is a “pretty safe” bet to determine the top overall seed among the top eight national seeds/regional host sites for the NCAA Tournament.
Per On3’s Jonathan Wagner:
“Arkansas could very easily sneak into the top spot with a series against Texas A&M coming up, but they remain in the second seed right now. The Razorbacks are 37-7 overall, 16-5 in the SEC and sit at No. 2 in RPI. It seems pretty safe to assume that Texas A&M and Arkansas will be the top two seeds when it’s all said and done. Joining Arkansas in the Fayetteville Regional this week is Virginia Tech, Lamar and Florida A&M.”
Texas A&M also edges out the Hogs in Baseball America’s latest projections. Baseball America has Arkansas hosting UConn, Louisiana Tech, and Arkansas-Little Rock in the Fayetteville Regional.
Besides the Aggies and Diamond Hogs, only two other teams are still in contention for the top spot in SEC standings: third-ranked Tennessee (15-6 conference) and No. 8 Kentucky (16-5). Arkansas will meet the Wildcats this weekend in Lexington in a top 10 showdown beginning Friday.
The final Field of 64 that will make up the NCAA Tournament for a potential berth in the College World Series in Omaha will be unveiled at 11 a.m. CDT on Selection Monday, May 27 on ESPN2.
Arkansas wraps up a two-game midweek series with Missouri State Wednesday at Baum-Walker Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. CDT. The game can be seen on SEC Network+.