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PAC-South Podcast 2026 Regional Outlook and Predictions
7 Plays4 days ago
TJ and Pat go into the 16 Regionals. We're picking the cupcakes, fun ones, and the Regions Of Death. We also sprinkle in some College Football talk and news... of course. Should be a great weekend of baseball!
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Transcript
College Baseball Championships and Regionals
00:00:01
Travis White
everyone, welcome back to the PAC South podcast. Here we are, we have finished up college baseball ah conference championship weekends. We now have the field for the regionals that will start here in two days.
Ed Orgeron's Return to LSU
00:00:16
Travis White
um We will dive more into that, but first, kind of our first love here on the channel back in the college football ah talk because we do have some interesting news.
00:00:22
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:00:27
Travis White
One, of major development for the season. The other, just a very fun, and we'll start with the fun. Orgeron back at LSU, winning a national title with them with one of the greatest teams we've ever seen in college football, the 2019 LSU.
00:00:43
Travis White
Back as a special assistant to Lane Kiffin. these two have worked together throughout their careers. I feel like this is just match made in heaven. And I don't know if it's for Lane or if it's for Ed. Cause I mean, Ed truly loves LSU. I feel like this just works and money wise LSU a hundred thousand.
00:01:04
Travis White
feel like you gotta to be happy.
00:01:05
Pat Q
Why not? Yeah.
00:01:06
Travis White
Yeah. That's a pretty remarkable stuff. This does officially make LSU the meme team,
LSU's 'Meme Team' Reputation
00:01:11
Travis White
right? Like there's just,
00:01:12
Pat Q
Oh, for sure. um And like kind of classic LSU of the past decade or so, where it's just like a combination of various random factors um that make them kind of an interesting storyline every year.
00:01:28
Pat Q
and unfortunately for Tiger fans, most of those storylines don't have to deal with the on the field product.
00:01:28
Travis White
Yeah.
00:01:36
Pat Q
It's a lot of... off field stuff that's caught our attention recently. Um, but I mean, good for coach. Oh, he clearly loves, like you said, LSU.
00:01:47
Pat Q
um we know how much the guy loves football. He said last year he would take minimum salary. think at one point he said he would coach for free just to get back into college football, um, as an assistant.
00:01:58
Travis White
Yeah.
00:01:59
Pat Q
And, I mean, clearly he was not lying, you know, like he probably could have had better jobs than this, um, given his pedigree as a recruiter, given the fact that he is a national championship winning head coach, um,
00:02:16
Pat Q
But I think it's a good story for both Coach O and for LSU.
Orgeron's Passion for College Football
00:02:20
Pat Q
And for Lane, like it's another, i guess, victory in kind of trying to tie yourself or cement yourself to the university, to the culture. What better way to do it than with Ed Orgeron himself?
00:02:35
Travis White
Yeah, absolutely. He's got a great, I mean, you want a locker room guy to be a player, but like in a way, like you have a great mouthpiece and a great locker room guy as one of your special assistants.
00:02:46
Pat Q
For sure.
00:02:47
Travis White
So it's pretty great stuff for Lane who's had an up and down week this week with potential uh troubles with the sec we'll have to see how that one plays out before i feel like we can really talk about that more but could
Texas Tech QB Situation and NIL Implications
00:03:00
Travis White
be facing some backlash with the sec and old miss based on comments in the past um leave it to lane uh but we'll we'll move on from the southeastern conference but stay somewhat in the region um brendan soresby had his hearing and confirmed to not be reinstated this season for the texas tech football team
00:03:21
Pat Q
Yeah. Yeah,
00:03:25
Travis White
Unfortunately, i do think this is probably the right decision. i feel like, unfortunately for him, I think this is a ah message being sent to these college athletes.
00:03:29
Pat Q
yeah.
00:03:36
Travis White
um I kind of have like a soft spot for like the Pete Rhodes situation where it's like you're betting on your own team. You want to win. You're not trying to.
00:03:45
Pat Q
yeah yeah
00:03:46
Travis White
But also a line has to be drawn somewhere. And when we're doing things, a number every day of bets with this NIL money that's coming in from the university, from donors, from what have you.
00:04:05
Travis White
It's just not a good situation. And with these young kids, like they need to be able to grow and be financially like responsible and learn how to do that.
00:04:07
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:04:12
Pat Q
sentiment yeah
00:04:14
Travis White
I mean, this is a lot of money for a lot of kids at young age. And I know that sounds like a very, you know, just beating a dead horse and sounds like, you know, you're out of touch in a way because of how the times have changed.
00:04:25
Travis White
But in a way, they they do need to have some of that protection umbrella. So I feel bad for the kid. I mean he's very good at football. Be interesting to see what his situation is, whether he goes UFL or he's able to go NFL after this.
00:04:39
Travis White
But his college football career is over.
00:04:40
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:04:43
Travis White
That does mean now Texas Tech officially moving on at quarterback. We've already talked a bit about them having to move on. Does this change our outlook on the Red Raiders this season?
00:04:56
Pat Q
I don't think so. Cause I think, I feel like when we talked about this the first time, both you and I were pretty confident that Brennan Sorsby would not play for Texas tech this year. um So I still feel like with the way the big 12 is so open, um and don't want to say there's no chance for them, right? Obviously this is a big hit. And yeah,
00:05:20
Pat Q
It always seems like when you have two quarterbacks, you have no quarterbacks,
Damond Williams' Transfer Challenges
00:05:24
Pat Q
but um there's two guys fighting for that position who are perfectly capable and can lead this team to a strong season.
00:05:24
Travis White
Yeah, yeah
00:05:32
Pat Q
So I don't want to write off Texas Tech quite yet, but this was definitely a blow for them and for their preseason prospects.
00:05:41
Travis White
absolutely. Absolutely. And speaking of a quarterback, it's kind of, not fully confirmed but kind of confirmed when we talked weeks back uh damon williams was headed to lsu um after they whiffed on brendan soresby um so sam levitt surprisingly we were saying like this has got to be the top guy in the market in the eyes of lsu who we pinned to be going after the number one guy that was their number three guy
00:06:14
Pat Q
yeah.
00:06:15
Travis White
um So pretty fascinating to like see that. And obviously Damond Williams saga was insane up at Washington.
00:06:19
Pat Q
Hmm.
00:06:23
Travis White
um He's transferring. His agent drops him He ends up not transferring because of the contract. I think Damond Williams and there was another who signed a contract, tried to transfer and got locked down. This wasn't like Darian Mensah who...
00:06:41
Pat Q
got out of it.
00:06:41
Travis White
just blew through it.
00:06:42
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:06:43
Travis White
Yeah. Well, he didn't really get out of it, but Miami pulled him through anyway.
00:06:47
Pat Q
Yeah. Yeah.
00:06:48
Travis White
It should be really interesting to see kind of how that finishes out because Duke should be in for a substantial payday, which will probably go directly to their transfer budget for this upcoming season.
00:07:01
Travis White
um So, I mean, because what was he making? Six million at Duke?
00:07:06
Pat Q
Roughly.
00:07:07
Travis White
Six million, probably went up to eight million at Miami.
00:07:07
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:07:09
Travis White
So, i mean, Duke could all of a sudden have, after the lawsuit and everything, another $10 million dollars of play money for skilled position and a quarterback or however they decide to go about it.
00:07:22
Travis White
So Blue Devil's upsetting for them, but they could make their way out of it. But just fascinating stuff. I mean, Lane Kiffin, one way or another, if he's directly or indirectly, he's he's in the headlines, good or bad.
00:07:36
Travis White
Yeah.
00:07:36
Pat Q
Yeah.
UCLA's Favorable Regional Draw
00:07:37
Travis White
no That's our college football roundup, I suppose, for the week. Now it is all eyes on baseball. Like I said, to start the show, regionals start this weekend.
00:07:49
Travis White
And we're we're going to go through all regional winners. But first, we're going to go with our cupcake region and our regions of death. First off, our cupcake region.
00:08:00
Travis White
I'm going to start this off because to me, this is easy as what the true Cupcake region is because it should be. i will give a true answer, but in a lot less words. Cupcake region being UCLA. They earned their number one seed. They played so good through the regular season. And you just look at the matchup. You have Virginia Tech, Cal Poly, St. Mary's.
00:08:22
Travis White
Not bad teams because obviously these teams all good enough to be in the final 64.
00:08:28
Travis White
But it that you just look at it, and team for team, this is easily the worst regional. UCLA should have no problem with that. But my ah other one is not a one seed. would have been Texas. I thought that was a very interesting one, and I've seen some power rankings where that's actually considered to be one of the harder regionals. i don't see that.
00:08:53
Travis White
um Santa Barbara, not a bad program, but I just – that Austin region, I look at it and i just say, I just, it's as a six seed could have seen a little bit more there.
00:09:06
Travis White
And I think, I think that's pretty weak.
00:09:06
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:09:08
Travis White
I think Texas got away with one here.
00:09:11
Pat Q
Yeah, no, I agree. I mean, i mean Tarleton's sneaky kind of good. um I know we talked about them a little bit when we had talked about New Mexico early in the season, but I agree that is one of the weaker regions.
00:09:26
Pat Q
um
00:09:26
Travis White
you You could argue Tarleton is the second best team in that regional.
Regional Matchups and Predictions
00:09:30
Pat Q
Yeah. um I don't know. i feel like the obvious answer is, like you said, the UCLA regional. um And obviously so, because they're the number one overall seed, you know, like,
00:09:40
Travis White
they dely They earned it. They definitely earned it. Yeah.
00:09:44
Pat Q
They deserve it. They've been pretty clearly the best team in college baseball all year. um
00:09:48
Travis White
Mm-hmm.
00:09:49
Pat Q
So I don't want to like detract from that or try and marginalize that. um I don't know. this This might be a little controversial, depending on how you view view the Big 12.
00:10:05
Pat Q
I feel like the Tuscaloosa Regional is kind of weak, too.
00:10:08
Travis White
Yeah.
00:10:08
Pat Q
Like Alabama is a pretty solid team this year.
00:10:09
Travis White
Yeah.
00:10:11
Pat Q
Oklahoma state's decent, but like upstate has been super up and down and Alabama state has been kind of inconsistent this year as well.
00:10:13
Travis White
Mm-hmm.
00:10:20
Pat Q
um So I feel like Alabama kind of lucked out with their regional draw and then, For them, um they're going to get a team that's coming out of a pretty grueling battle in the Tallahassee Regional for their super regional matchup.
00:10:38
Pat Q
So, I mean, I feel like they kind of got a positive draw there as long as they can take care of Oklahoma State.
00:10:43
Travis White
Yeah.
00:10:46
Travis White
Yeah, I definitely think Alabama should be in good shape there. On to our regional death. And i I hate this for them because I think they had a great season.
00:11:00
Travis White
Um, but I think it's Hattiesburg, that Hattiesburg regional for Southern miss.
00:11:03
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:11:04
Travis White
I think that that is just a brutal regional, um, a great baseball program and UVA you then have conference USA, uh, yeah, conference USA tournament champion, Jacksonville state who won that conference tournament on a run rule.
00:11:07
Pat Q
stuff
00:11:24
Pat Q
yeah
00:11:24
Travis White
um I mean, they they had a great ball club, great end of the season. Obviously, it's tough to know what kind of teams are going to come out because if you go – if you immediately exit your conference tournament, you get a little scared.
00:11:36
Pat Q
For sure.
00:11:41
Travis White
If you win your conference tournament, I feel like you also get a little bit scared because you're tired.
00:11:44
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:11:45
Travis White
I feel like sometimes that sweet spot is a semifinal run because –
00:11:48
Pat Q
Exactly.
00:11:50
Travis White
Because then you're like, okay, we just tasted a defeat recently. we can really make a good run now into the postseason. Because sometimes that late season loss is huge for a team, especially like a Southern Miss.
00:12:02
Pat Q
And it gives you like a postseason confidence. You know what i mean? You're not just one and done in the tournament, but also you're not low in all your arms.
00:12:09
Travis White
Yeah. You got some wins. You got some, yeah, sudden, or not sudden death, but um like single elimination wins, where it's like you win or go home.
00:12:17
Pat Q
Yeah. Yeah.
00:12:19
Travis White
and And not to be missed, but Little Rock, great season as well. They were the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament champions.
00:12:26
Pat Q
me
00:12:29
Travis White
So great season for those guys as well. I mean, this is a stacked regional. And if I'm being honest, I feel like this is one of the few regionals where if the four came out, I could totally understand it.
00:12:41
Travis White
There's just some heavy hitters right here.
00:12:44
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:12:44
Travis White
So that's that's the one to watch.
00:12:47
Pat Q
That's definitely a deep regional. Um, I don't know. I have two that I'm kind of keeping my eyes on for, we'll say like parody sake.
00:12:58
Pat Q
Um,
00:12:58
Travis White
Yeah.
00:12:59
Pat Q
One is actually we talked about both of them before the show started, but one's Chapel Hill. Obviously North Carolina put together a great season this year, but ECU is a phenomenal program and they always show up tournament time and Tennessee. Yes, it's not what Tennessee fans probably have gotten used to the past few seasons, but that was still a solid ball club despite a pretty rocky start. Um,
00:13:27
Pat Q
with their new manager kind of restructuring in the program, things like that. They got it together. um
00:13:33
Travis White
Yeah, I mean, and I want to say a quick note on Tennessee. Having the season that you've had lately, and yes, like you still want to hold on to your roster, but you're losing a head coach to the San Francisco Giants and still making the regionals.
00:13:46
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:13:48
Travis White
That's a two seed. Pass off to you. Tough conference, kind of tough situation.
00:13:51
Pat Q
No, for sure. For sure.
00:13:53
Travis White
So, I mean, pass off to Tennessee. Pretty impressive stuff, but I'll let you continue on your regional.
00:13:59
Pat Q
I would just say the other one that I'm concerned about the host for is probably the Lincoln Regional. um That's another one where... Obviously South Dakota state probably has the slimmest odds there.
00:14:13
Pat Q
But I think any of those four teams, if they get hot at the right time could get out.
00:14:13
Travis White
Yep.
00:14:19
Pat Q
Ole Miss has been pretty consistent this year, despite kind of sputtering a little bit down the stretch. Arizona state was one of the better teams in the big 12 right there with Kansas and UCF all year. um So I think that's going to be a little bit of a rock fight regional where, know,
00:14:37
Pat Q
particularly that 2-3 game is going to be massive. um Whoever wins the Ole Miss-Arizona State game, I feel like has a pretty decent advantage, right? Because at least you're not fighting for your life immediately off the bat. um And if you lose to Nebraska, let's say in that second game, it's not the end of the world. You know, you can...
00:14:59
Pat Q
get your best arm going for an elimination game against the team that you already beat once, and then try for another shot at Nebraska moving forward. So I feel like that's going to be a really, really tough region. And I would not be shocked if either Ole Miss or Arizona step State gets out.
00:15:19
Travis White
Yeah, i feel like that's another regional where you have three legitimate contenders to get out of there. um Before we hop into our winners of the 16 regionals, I do have an unofficial category I want to throw out here just because I think it's –
00:15:35
Pat Q
Okay.
00:15:38
Travis White
kind of worthy of it uh this is kind of the regional fun i feel like this is just going to be if you want to enjoy it like enjoy baseball this weekend watch this regional and that's going to be the eugene regional um that you go oregon oregon state so i mean you get civil war for one two washington state in for the pack two number three um i forget actually who's number four in that regional but
00:15:42
Pat Q
Ooh. Okay.
00:15:50
Pat Q
Yeah. Civil War.
00:16:03
Pat Q
Yale.
00:16:04
Travis White
yes There you go. get an Ivy team in there to round it out. So that is a super fun regional. Yale, not a bad ball club as of late.
00:16:13
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:16:13
Travis White
um Fun to see them in the regionals here. But, I mean, those top three is – honestly – More hilarious than anything. Oregon getting the host here because of the Big Ten strength of schedule. Oregon State definitely got penalized with their independence this year and not being able to schedule tougher teams. And the tougher teams that they did schedule, they did not have full series with. So definitely got hurt there.
00:16:43
Travis White
But I will leave that where it is before we go into winners. um So I think that we just go through 16. Well, should we go 1, 16, 2, 15?
00:16:54
Travis White
I'll read it back because i was about to say we're going to get to, i think, possibly some obvious things.
00:16:57
Pat Q
Yeah, yeah, we could do that. Yeah,
00:17:02
Travis White
So starting off number one, UCLA. That is the Cupcake Regional for me for a reason. Like we said, they earned it.
00:17:13
Travis White
UCLA easily getting out of their regional. Okay.
00:17:16
Pat Q
yeah I'm echoing that as well. I also highlighted that this is a pretty favorable regional for the home team. um Virginia Tech might be a little bit of a tough out, but overall, I think UCLA should roll pretty comfortably here.
00:17:33
Travis White
Indeed, indeed. On to the 16, that Morgantown regional. I actually have Wake Forest coming out of this one. I don't like West Virginia getting out of their weekend.
00:17:44
Travis White
don't really like even the fact that they are hosting a regional. And for those facts, I'm getting the Demon Deacons out of there.
00:17:47
Pat Q
Yeah. I actually went on a limb here. I went with Kentucky.
00:17:58
Pat Q
um
00:17:58
Travis White
Okay. Okay.
00:17:59
Pat Q
and don't know. i feel like this is a team that's been a little up and down this year, but it seems like they're starting to play cleaner baseball again here near the end of the season. And Kentucky's been one of the more consistent programs over the past five, six years in the SEC. So I'm rolling with the Cats out of Morgantown.
00:18:21
Travis White
So a little bit of differentiation there and neither of us taking the one seed. ah So even more reason to watch the Morgantown regional.
00:18:29
Pat Q
h
00:18:29
Travis White
Two seed or two regional in Atlanta. I have Georgia Tech getting out there. Very similar to UCLA. little bit tougher. Drawing in Oklahoma as a two.
00:18:42
Travis White
Outside of that, I don't see much issue for the Yellow Jackets. I think this should be a reasonably stress free weekend for them.
00:18:52
Pat Q
Yeah. I'm also rolling with the rambling wreck here. um I feel like Georgia Tech has been a really, really complete baseball team all year. um i know we've mentioned them a couple times when talking about Florida State, who is in our conference.
00:19:06
Pat Q
um But this is a dang good baseball team. And I would like to shout out the Citadel for the season that they've had. You know, Citadel baseball was really, really good for a while.
00:19:18
Pat Q
And it kind of took a step back for a little bit there. So it's good to see a historically relevant program in the scope of college baseball be back in the tournament again.
00:19:28
Travis White
Yeah, and Citadel great programs. I feel like you just look back in history. SoCon has been a very good baseball conference. And think that in this transition to power for conferences, that's been a loss a little bit.
00:19:36
Pat Q
yeah
00:19:42
Travis White
But I mean, historically speaking, you've had great programs. Wofford has been very good over time. Georgia Southern, before they made the move to Sunbelt, has been amazing. Of course, just a historically bad year for that program.
00:19:55
Travis White
But typically the Eagles are very good and ranked in the top 25 pretty regularly.
00:19:55
Pat Q
yeah yeah
00:20:02
Travis White
So big shout-out SoCon Baseball shout-out Citadel Bulldogs. On this is Lawrence, Kansas Regional. um I have Arkansas coming out of this one.
00:20:15
Travis White
I, I, yeah, I really feel they shoehorned in the big 12.
00:20:15
Pat Q
I do too.
00:20:24
Travis White
regional hosts at 15 and 16 and to be honest hopefully for the big 12 these are not the teams i think you want it hosting your regionals i think if the teams that have gotten their act together arizona state and ucf probably would have been the better host if they did not just fall apart in their various areas of the region
00:20:26
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:20:30
Pat Q
mean
00:20:38
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:20:46
Travis White
or at the conference, that is. So both of us going Arkansas out of Lawrence, Kansas. Back to Georgia, this regional in Athens.
00:20:59
Travis White
Bulldogs, great year. SEC champs making runs in Hoover.
00:21:07
Travis White
Taking Boston College.
00:21:10
Pat Q
I don't hate it. Um, BC has been an awesome story all year. Um, it's good to see again, another like pretty consistent program for a while there, get back to being at a high level.
00:21:23
Pat Q
Um, you know, Boston college had some really, really rough years there, um, in ACC play recently.
00:21:28
Travis White
Yes. yes
00:21:30
Pat Q
So it's nice to see them be relevant be back in the college world series. Um, I guess it was probably two episodes ago, I want to say. i picked Georgia as kind of like my team to make a sneaky run in the CWS. So I'm back in the dogs here.
00:21:48
Travis White
Yeah, I mean, Georgia definitely has the firepower for that, but should be interesting to see that regional. Got another separate pick there. Over to Stark Vegas.
00:21:59
Travis White
um
00:22:00
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:22:01
Travis White
i don't I don't know how a team in Mississippi State loses a regional that they host. I'm going Mississippi State all the way.
00:22:10
Pat Q
Yeah, i think I think Louisiana can give them a really good run. um i think people are overlooking Louisiana because they're a Sunbelt team, but they got really, really hot near the end of the year.
00:22:22
Pat Q
and They knocked Coastal out of the Sunbelt tournament. like This is a good baseball team, but I agree with you. I think being in Stark Vegas, Mississippi State plays so, so well at home.
00:22:33
Pat Q
I think they get out of this regionally.
00:22:35
Travis White
it's one of the best home field advantages in college baseball it's just an amazing amazing experience that left field porch undeniably amazing so all right going same again lots of similar picks and not not all on one seeds there's a lot of room here
00:22:48
Pat Q
Lots saying, yeah.
00:22:54
Travis White
for some differences, I'm sure we will see
SEC Teams' Regional Prospects
00:22:56
Travis White
it. ah Back to the southeast, this time in Alabama, in Auburn. um Auburn hosting UCF, who we just mentioned, Pac-South conference team.
00:23:07
Travis White
I really wanted to take them, but I think that their inconsistencies down the stretch is what's going to lead me away from them, women and I'm going to take Auburn getting out of their own regional.
00:23:17
Pat Q
I am also going to go with Auburn here. I was actually considering going with NC state as kind of like a little bit of a dark horse to get out of this region, but they are pretty much like the ACC version of UCF where like it's super Jekyll and Hyde and you don't know what team you're going to get.
00:23:32
Travis White
Yeah. Yeah.
00:23:35
Pat Q
um
00:23:36
Travis White
No.
00:23:37
Pat Q
Where Auburn has been extremely consistent all year long. Um, a little bit sneaky because, you know, when you think SEC baseball, Auburn is probably not one of the first names you consider. um So, i mean, hats off to them. They've had a phenomenal season hosting a regional four seed in the tournament. And I think that's all rewarded with a regional victory here.
00:24:02
Travis White
Yeah. So, wow, horrible weekend for Georgia fans if my picks come true because you have your two deepest rivals getting out of their regionals.
00:24:10
Pat Q
now Yeah.
00:24:10
Travis White
and i you think post We'll have to see. That'd be just awful for the dogs.
00:24:15
Pat Q
Tough. Tough.
00:24:17
Travis White
But moving to Lincoln, one of your ah regions to watch there, and deservingly so. mentioned that before. I think Nebraska's got their hands full this weekend, and I think it would be nothing short of a miracle for the Cornhuskers to sneak their way out.
00:24:36
Travis White
want to give a shout out to their athletic program, though, or athletic department over the past year. Having historic year for men's basketball and having a great follow-up season in the Big Ten in baseball, Cornhuskers are definitely moving in the right direction.
00:24:53
Pat Q
Yeah, for sure.
00:24:54
Travis White
And their their football team is just amazing. Just one click off. Like they're, they're doing right things under Matt rule. They just can't find the last piece.
00:25:06
Travis White
Um, and unfortunately they're still not finding the last piece. I am going Arizona state here. I'm going to take a three getting out of that regional. Um, in a similar sense, ah or the opposite sense, rather, for UCF and NC State not getting out because of being streaky, Arizona State being streaky, but I think this is the right time for them. I think they're going to get out this weekend.
00:25:30
Pat Q
Yeah. um Dang. All right. For the sake of breaking our consistency train, I will switch it up. I was going to go Arizona state here, but I'm going to go Ole Miss.
00:25:41
Pat Q
I'll stick with making me look like an SEC Homer here, but um I'll go with the rebels to get out of here again.
00:25:42
Travis White
Okay.
00:25:46
Travis White
Yeah.
00:25:50
Pat Q
They had a really strong start to the season. Then they kind of hit a little bit of a rough patch, um but consistently good baseball program. fairly recent national champion. ah so they know what it takes to win on this stage.
00:26:06
Pat Q
So I'll go with the rebels here. Yeah.
00:26:09
Travis White
Okay. Over to North Carolina, we have the Chapel Hill Regional, um, incredible regional, again, one of your regionals of note.
00:26:19
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:26:20
Travis White
Um, i don't love North Carolina being seated at the five. I think they had a very good year, but I don't love them at the five.
00:26:32
Travis White
um I think this is going to be and all hands on deck and just knock down drag out on all parties. And I think ECU is actually going to be a team to survive here.
00:26:44
Pat Q
okay
00:26:44
Travis White
um I can see this regional going a lot of different ways, but something is pulling me to the pirates.
00:26:50
Pat Q
yeah yeah i love that pick um ecu is of insanely consistent baseball program um whenever they host the regional in greenville it's always such a fun time such a fun watch on tv
00:27:05
Travis White
Yeah. Yeah.
00:27:06
Pat Q
um they've been a little bit of a pain in the butt for South Carolina, but baseball fairly recently. Um, but I'm going to go with North Carolina here.
00:27:17
Pat Q
Um, I think that
00:27:18
Travis White
Okay.
00:27:21
Pat Q
I agree. Uh, the five was a little bit tough. Um, I think they probably could have been seated higher than Auburn and flip those two, but, um, I get what the committee was doing. um But I'll go with the heels here to barely get it out of an insanely tough regional.
00:27:43
Travis White
Okay, there we go. A little bit of parody right there. um Now, we're going to College Station for some reason. um i hate, I hate, I hate, this is my least favorite seeding because Texas A&M,
00:27:53
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:28:04
Travis White
Southern Cal should be hosting a regional, and I think that that is just a crime that they're not.
00:28:06
Pat Q
Yeah. Yeah.
00:28:09
Travis White
Texas A&M getting caught up in the crossfire for it. because they got paired together. The fact this is not in l L.A. is just ridiculous. um
00:28:19
Pat Q
yeah
00:28:20
Travis White
I think Southern Cal gets out of this, and I think they get out pretty easily. um I just hate that they're not hosting. This should have been and L.A. regional 100%, but Trojans are just going to have to prove it on the field.
00:28:35
Travis White
All I'm going say.
00:28:36
Pat Q
Yeah, um I do agree with you that when these rank or regions dropped, I was a little surprised to see Texas A&M as a host and not see USC. like I don't know, maybe there's a limit on how much traffic they wanted in the greater Los Angeles region because UCLA is already hosting. I'm not really sure what the logic was there.
00:28:59
Pat Q
um I'm going to go... a little bit off um my expectations. I've really been thinking about this for a while. um I'm going to go with Texas state here.
00:29:12
Travis White
Wow.
00:29:12
Pat Q
Eat them up.
00:29:13
Travis White
Okay.
00:29:13
Pat Q
That's it's a really under the radar program, but they are super consistent. um Better than I think a lot of people give them credit for. ah And, um,
00:29:28
Pat Q
Part of the reason I'm choosing them instead of USC is the fact that this is in Texas and not California. um I also don't believe in A&M, so I'll go with the cats here.
00:29:40
Travis White
okay that big pick right there. um Staying in the state of Texas now, this goes over to Austin. And for the sake of my well-being, because back-to-back reasons I don't really like, Texas deserves their spot, just don't like the regional.
00:29:58
Travis White
Going Longhorns.
00:29:58
Pat Q
there yeah i'm going texas here as well um as we already discussed i feel like this is a fairly straightforward one
00:30:08
Travis White
Yeah. On to the fun regional in Eugene again. i i don't think you can't not be entertained regardless of who comes out of this regional.
00:30:18
Pat Q
for sure
00:30:19
Travis White
It'll be interesting to see how these teams decide to use and save their arms as they go. um Mainly being, I think, Washington State will throw an ace at Oregon State. Oregon State might be throwing their two-guy expecting Oregon.
00:30:32
Travis White
um But you never know. I mean, Yale could... could be Oregon in the first matchup. And I could totally see that happening and I'll throw the whole weekend off.
00:30:43
Travis White
Um, but I, I do think that the pride of the PAC South who is not anywhere near the top, uh, Oregon state will get out of this regional.
00:30:54
Pat Q
Yeah, this is a this is a really interesting region regional, but I think it's a really fun one, too. um You've got the regional, let's say, like rivalries that are taking place here between
00:31:00
Travis White
Yeah.
00:31:09
Pat Q
really the three bigger programs in this regional, um, you know, some former PAC 12 animosity there, also kind of unique in the sense that Washington state played mountain West baseball this year, but Oregon state elected not to I thought that was kind of weird.
00:31:25
Travis White
Yes.
00:31:29
Travis White
Very interesting. Yes.
00:31:30
Pat Q
Um, um, But i don't know, like that two, three game is going to be so, so fun because Washington state is playing great baseball right now. um
00:31:40
Travis White
yes
00:31:41
Pat Q
But we've talked about Oregon state all year and saying like, this is a really good team. Don't let the fact that they don't play in a conference make you overlook them. And I'm sticking behind that and I'm rolling with the Beavs here as well.
00:31:57
Travis White
Okay. Back to the Southeastern Conference. Once again, this is our tuscaloo Tuscaloosa regional. Thank you very much.
00:32:09
Travis White
I got the tide rolling.
00:32:11
Pat Q
Yeah, same here. I highlighted this as a fairly weak regional um kind of benefiting Alabama. So I do see the tide getting out.
00:32:20
Travis White
Okay. Now, these three regionals, I mean, we've mentioned some tough regionals already before and some obviously fun ones with that Eugene regional. I feel like these three regionals, if you come out of this, you are battle tested.
00:32:34
Pat Q
Yeah, these are going to be so fun.
00:32:34
Travis White
The only, the only issue being got to keep all your arms healthy because if you can stay healthy out of this regional, you're battle testing, you're ready to go.
00:32:41
Pat Q
Yeah. True.
00:32:44
Travis White
Starting off here in the Tallahassee regional, um, This was the most brutal draw Florida State could have gotten.
00:32:52
Pat Q
yeah
00:32:52
Travis White
Well, maybe not the most. They were able to dodge UCF. UCF was slotted in as a three for a bit when they were skidding at the end of the season.
00:32:57
Pat Q
true
00:33:02
Travis White
Them pulling themselves up actually helped Florida to State here. But they still got Coastal, who... Definitely didn't end the season the way that they wanted, but this is still an incredibly good ball club.
00:33:12
Travis White
They were top 10 for a good portion of the season. If not, still very much in the top 20.
00:33:15
Pat Q
Mm-hmm.
00:33:18
Travis White
um i think the Chanticleers are going to get out of Tallahassee. I think this is just going to be an unlucky weekend for the Seminoles. Very good team. they had a great season.
00:33:30
Travis White
i just, I think this is going to be a trap draw for them.
00:33:35
Pat Q
Yeah, I agree with you. It seems like Florida State baseball is almost cursed in a way um because they either can't get out of regionals that they're hosting or they make it to a super and lose to
00:33:43
Travis White
have.
00:33:51
Pat Q
a team that makes an insanely deep run at Omaha. um So i don't know. I think Florida state got the short end of the stick here in terms of the teams that they're grouped with, not just coastal. um But I mean, St. John's isn't great, but they're,
00:34:12
Pat Q
a fine team, you know, and Northern Illinois can get a little competitive on you. They shouldn't overlook them, but I'm also rolling with Coastal to get out of this region. um i think Kevin Schnall, despite all the talk that he might leave for South Carolina, he's going to have this team focused, ready to play good baseball, especially given the way that they lost to Louisiana in the Sunbelt tournament to get eliminated.
00:34:35
Travis White
And I mean, I think that that is barring the results of this weekend, just a great highlighting point of you take that quarterfinal, semifinal run, you get a loss and where you probably shouldn't as a caliber of a program.
00:34:45
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:34:52
Travis White
you take that loss and you get a chip on your shoulder going in, oftentimes that leads to a great run for programs of this caliber. Kevin Snall, he's he's playing for his paycheck right now.
00:35:03
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:35:04
Travis White
I mean, right now it seems like two million sounds like the going rate between the two schools that are arguing over him.
00:35:08
Pat Q
you
00:35:10
Travis White
He makes it to Omaha. He might be looking at another million. So, Remains to be seen interesting stuff in Tallahassee. Staying in the same state, we're noticing a trend here. Gainesville Regional, again, another Pac-South team, another great season.
00:35:29
Travis White
You mentioned the South Carolina coach candidate. um Oh, my gosh, I'm forgetting his name now because all of a sudden I'm thinking Kevin Sumlin, not baseball coach.
00:35:37
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:35:38
Travis White
um I'm forgetting the head skipper over at Florida, but he was initially looked to be brought into South Carolina before Florida ah opened up the pocketbook on him and saved him from moving over to South Carolina when they got Mark Kingston.
00:35:57
Travis White
this is a very, very tough regional, I think for the Gators. I mean, you would kind of come to expect it as an eight or nine, but you would rather see a little bit more favorable as an eight.
00:36:10
Travis White
Um, Florida did have a nice end to the season. They did have that middle patch where you're like, ah what's going on with the Gators?
00:36:20
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:36:20
Travis White
They did get things going. They had a nice showing in Hoover losing to, I want to say Alabama, or no, Georgia.
00:36:21
Pat Q
Mm-hmm.
00:36:27
Travis White
They lost to Georgia on Saturday. um So very good weekend for the Gators. Nice end of the season. But similar to Coastal and Tallahassee,
00:36:41
Travis White
Miami kind of lurking in there. They have some upset wins on other great programs in the state of Florida this year. And I think that the hurricanes are going to steal this regional.
00:36:53
Pat Q
Okay. um I don't know. I was kind of going back and forth between those two teams as well. Obviously, Troy is a pretty solid team that we shouldn't totally discount in this region.
00:37:04
Travis White
Yeah.
00:37:05
Pat Q
But i do think it's going to come down to Florida and Miami. um I'm going to pick this just based on their head-to-head matchup in the regular season. and I'll go with the Gators to get out. But I think it is going to be really, really competitive.
00:37:22
Pat Q
And I think that is going to be um three games between those teams. That's not going to be Florida winning in both and just cruising out of the regional.
00:37:32
Travis White
Okay. Another difference there. And that again, will be a fun difference to watch. Um, I would just like to put it on record. You fade at one sec team and that was Texas A&M.
00:37:45
Pat Q
just say know Yeah.
00:37:46
Travis White
Um, So that's very funny.
Hattiesburg Regional Analysis
00:37:50
Travis White
ah Would be very interesting. Greg Sankey, I think would be very happy with you if those predictions came true.
00:37:54
Pat Q
For
00:37:56
Travis White
Now onto my region of death and arguably the toughest and highest caliber. And that's the nine seed Hattiesburg Regional, Southern Miss, Virginia, Jacksonville State, and Little Rock.
00:38:02
Pat Q
sure.
00:38:10
Travis White
um or All but one conference champion, UVA, obviously just a great program in their own right.
00:38:15
Pat Q
Mm-hmm.
00:38:16
Travis White
um Again, this is one of the few conferences where, or regionals, where if if anyone came out of it, I could believe it. Little Rock, definitely a little bit less.
00:38:28
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:38:28
Travis White
No shade to them, just not as much competition in the OVC. um I want it to be Southern Miss. I want it to be Southern Miss. Jacksonville State would be a very fun story. Virginia, we we've seen it before.
00:38:45
Travis White
something is telling me Virginia I think the Cavs are going to sneak their way out on program pedigree alone and I think it's going to be unfortunate for the storytelling for these smaller programs Southern Miss great season just great season Jacksonville State great season and Conference USA as well they are a great ball club but I something just tells me the Cavaliers who want to sneak out of Hattiesburg
00:38:52
Pat Q
Yeah.
00:39:11
Pat Q
I don't know. I've been torn on this. I know we talked about it before. um We started recording that we were kind of like highlighting some regions that we felt are toss-up-y.
00:39:24
Pat Q
And this was the biggest toss-up for me.
00:39:24
Travis White
Mm-hmm.
00:39:26
Pat Q
Because you've got UVA, who's got Duke's coach from last year, Chris Pollard. And he's done a really nice job getting them back on track, back in the tournament.
00:39:37
Pat Q
kind of poised to make a run here. um And then you've also got Christian Ostrander at Southern Miss, who is a really hot name for the South Carolina job as well, right? We've got Kevin Schnall on the other side of the bracket, Ostrander on this one. And I don't know, I feel like South Carolina really can't go wrong with either of them.
00:40:02
Pat Q
I'm sure Gamecock fans would be much happier with a guy who was coached in state and had a little bit more Omaha success in Kevin Schnall, but Ostrander has done a solid job at Southern Miss.
00:40:10
Travis White
Yeah.
00:40:15
Pat Q
This season has been fantastic for them. And I'm just going to go with the feel good vibes here. I'll go with the golden Eagles to get out of their own regional and make the supers.
00:40:29
Travis White
Okay. And it could be very fun, obviously, depending if you and your Gators win, they will have to travel to Gainesville. But if Miami sneaks out of Gainesville, like I'm predicting –
00:40:36
Pat Q
Yeah. And they're hosting. Yeah.
00:40:40
Travis White
Hattiesburg will be Super Regional hosts, and that would be just a fun and great time to see.
00:40:43
Pat Q
That'd be awesome.
Anticipation for Super Regionals
00:40:47
Travis White
so But we will be back for Supers next weekend.
00:40:50
Pat Q
Mm-hmm.
00:40:50
Travis White
We will be watching all the regional action to see how close we are and how far off we are, but it will be fun either way. We are looking forward to it. So until next week, thank you all so much for watching and listening, and we will catch you all next time.