Underdogs Like UTSA Stole the Show in College Baseball's Regional Round

By Nathan Carlson, San Angelo LIVE!

It’s an underdog's paradise in the NCAA Baseball Tournament. Seven of 16 host teams have fallen in double elimination over the four-day first round. Plenty of history is dipping its quill back into the ink headed into the Super Regionals. While Texas Longhorn fans may be fighting the tears around town this week, it’s a breath of fresh air to the Cinderella story UT San Antonio Roadrunners. Zooming out of the Texan picture, you’ll see much more, much-needed shuffling to the world of college baseball. Teams with high expectations seemingly evaporated, or fought off tragic season endings. Why exactly is this healthy for the NCAA, and why should you care? It’s safe to say that everyone wins when collegiate powerhouses made of money fall in epic fashion. 

Upset City

The fabulous five underdogs of the college baseball world have punched their ticket to the supers, and they all have empty pages to write upon.

UTSA rocked the city of Austin by going undefeated in the regional round, backing up what most assumed was a fluke upset of the Longhorns earlier this year. A major part of the order, third baseman Norris McClure, hit two of the three Roadrunner home runs the entire regional round. Long balls aren’t the backbone of offense however, as McClure put the ball in play with an impressive .417 to start his tournament batting average. UTSA holds a high hand going into Super Regionals, holding Texas winless across the whole season while outscoring the Longhorns 20-16 is no easy feat. They have their work cut out in supers, as UCLA stands in after dunking their regional opponents 38-14 across only three games. 

Duke is a household name in the world of college basketball, but on the diamond their success is fresh. The Blue Devils’ fifth appearance in the supers in the last seven years sounds solid, but those showings are all the club has had in over 70 years of play. You’ll have to pre date the moon landing to find Duke in the 1961 College World Series, the last of the only three long runs with no hardware to show for it. Shortstop Wallace Clark cooked with gas, hitting a tournament average .643 with two of the team's seven home runs, shocking Oklahoma State and Georgia in the process.

Duke faces off against another historical turn in the Murray State Racers from Murray, Kentucky, who have never been this far in the tournament's history. The Racers had to edge out regional favorite Mississippi in a two-game final duel after stunning Ole Miss in the first game, sending Mississippi through the elimination bracket before punching out Georgia Tech, a dark horse in the seeding. The back-to-back outfield duo of Jonathan Hogart and Dustin Mercer lead the bats with tournament averages of .444 and .667, respectively.

Coastal Carolina may be a top seed host in regional play, but the team’s overall season is a standout to the school’s history. The Chanticleers have only been this far three other times, with 2016 ending in an all-around Cinderella masterpiece World Series title. With a rich history of stalling in the regional round, seeing this ballclub break through to the supers is sure to bring hope to a glass slipper sequel. Colby Thorndyke brought out the power with three home runs in as many games, sending the mysterious Chanticleers to a best-of-three series with another host seed in Auburn, setting up a must-watch Super Regional showdown.

West Virginia is back to prove their Super Regional-worthy play, with its second appearance in a row, in all of Mountaineer history. Armani Guzman, while trailing the batting order, put it in play most with a .615 tournament average. West Virginia staved off elimination by besting the host seed Clemson Tigers and the lower favorite Kentucky Wildcats, narrowly outscoring their games 26-21. Immunity to pressure is what they’ll need to tough out the LSU Tigers in the Super Regionals.

The bigger they are…

It’s important to understand the sheer amount of backend skill it takes to overcome the amount of pressure these lower seeds face. It’s likely most of the kids on these rosters had aspirations to join the top schools in the baseball conversation. To see the adversity play out, and watching the little guy prevail balances the world of sports that much more. It proves year after year that big spending on coaches and players alike will never solidify success. When the larger schools watch a player they turned away run their own diamond, they need to swallow the fact that thousands of dollars were spent in the wrong direction. Spending more time paying attention to all prospects proves more viable in revitalizing a program. Take the fact that Jim Schlossnagle jumped ship from Texas A&M to join what was supposed to be a much stronger Longhorn squad. Going winless against an interuniversity team that sends you packing in regionals is the golden example of why big reputation and big spending is not always the answer. It’s time to take a serious look in the mirror if you’re a top baseball program in the NCAA. Both Cal State Fullerton and South Carolina University had gained the attention needed to feature their teams in the hot new video game MLB The Show 25. Yet Cal State never made it to the tournament, thanks to a season-starting sweep from Sanford that ended up proving huge in the end of season standing. South Carolina didn’t even have a .500 record, going only 20% against their own conference. Smaller teams deserve the attention in the Super Regional round and on. It’s only a matter of time before the baseball scene becomes just as balanced as the basketball scene, with more spread-out talent where the World Series is anyone’s game.