Last Eight In: South Alabama, Texas State, Maryland, Arizona, Tulane, South Carolina, Houston, Duke
First Eight Out: NC State, Tennessee, Notre Dame, USC, UCF, Michigan State, Missouri, Auburn
Week two was filled with big-time matchups, as a number of top flight programs headed off to play in early season tournaments. In San Diego, the University of San Diego and San Diego State hosted the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic, which included Arizona, Bryant, Kentucky, Nebraska, Tulane, UC-Santa Barbara alongside the Torreros and Aztecs. UC Santa Barbara put together an impressive weekend, topping San Diego in the championship game. The Gauchos came into the season needing to replace a large portion of production from last years team both in the lineup and on the mound, but they haven’t missed a beat. Bryant was the other school that impressed. A member of the NEC, the Bulldogs were not fazed by the level of competition as they came away from the weekend with a 2-1 record. Bryant beat San Diego State in the opener and closed out the weekend with a win over Kentucky, following a loss to the champion Gauchos. Despite the small conference, Bryant has the talent to be a very good team this season and is a team that some big name programs are not going to be happy to see in their regional.
Down in Houston, the Astros hosted the Houston College Classic which featured a six team field of teams that all appear in this week’s bracketology projections. Arkansas and TCU came out as the big winners. Shortstop Michael Bernal and closer Zach Jackson led the way for the Razorbacks as they went 3-0 on the weekend, moving into a regional host position, while TCU showed off their freshman star Luken Baker. Baker turned in a big time performance in Sunday’s win over Rice, allowing just four hits in six scoreless innings on the mound, and added a monster home run as well. With Baker leading the charge, TCU coasted to three wins on the weekend and look to be headed for a big year.
ACC: Duke, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisville, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia
American: Houston, Tulane, East Carolina
Big East: Creighton
Big 12: Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech
Big Ten: Maryland, Michigan
Pac-12: Arizona State, Arizona, California, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UCLA
SEC: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Kentucky, LSU, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt
A-10: Richmond
America East: Stony Brook
A-Sun: North Florida
Big South: Coastal Carolina
Big West: Cal State Fullerton, UC Santa Barbara
CAA: Charleston, UNC Wilmington
C-USA: Florida Atlantic, Rice
Horizon: Wright State
Ivy: Columbia
MAAC: Rider
MAC: Kent State
MEAC: Florida A&M
MVC: Dallas Baptist, Missouri State
MWC: Fresno State
NEC: Bryant
OVC: Southeast Missouri
Patriot: Holy Cross
Southern: Wofford
Southland: Southeastern Louisiana
Summit: Oral Roberts
Sun Belt: Louisiana, South Alabama, Texas State
SWAC: Alabama State
WAC: Seattle
WCC: BYU
