College baseball in Texas made the wrong kind of history when the NCAA Tournament field was announced this past weekend.
Six teams from the Lone Star State were among the 64 teams selected, and four of those will be No. 2 seeds when play starts on Friday, but for the first time since 1999 there won’t be a regional hosted at a Texas university.
The Texas Longhorns looked like a good bet to host a regional before the Big 12 tournament began, but they fell out quickly with losses to eighth-seed Kansas and fifth-seed Kansas State. That dropped the Longhorns to 38-20 overall and in the minds of the selection committee it was enough to send them to the Coral Gables Regional hosted by Miami (Fla.).
Texas will play No. 3 regional seed Louisiana (40-22) at 1 p.m. on the Longhorn Network. The Hurricanes (40-19) face fourth-seed Maine (32-19) at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
The other five Texas schools in the field include TCU, Texas A&M and Dallas Baptist also earning No. 2 regional seeds, plus Texas Tech and Sam Houston landing as No. 3 seeds.
Unfortunately for those wanting to wager on the games, there is no legal Texas sports betting. Bills in support of betting died during the most recent session of the Texas Legislature, which won’t meet again to take up the topic until 2025.
NCAA Championship Odds
Although there are no legal sportsbooks in the state, you can expect to have access to FanDuel Sportsbook Texas among other national brands when betting does become legal.
Longhorns One of Six Teams from Big 12
The Longhorns are one of six Big 12 teams to make the field, the third-most among conferences behind a record-tying 10 for the Southeastern Conference and eight for the Atlantic Coast Conference.
Texas is joined by No. 11 national seed Oklahoma State, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas Tech and West Virginia.
Although there are no Texas sports betting apps, national operators see little difference in NCAA championship odds between OSU and the Longhorns.
The Aggies are one of just two SEC schools in the field who aren’t hosting a regional, with Tennessee being the other. Like the Aggies, the Volunteers are also a No. 2 regional seed so the SEC carried a lot of weight with the selection committee.
The eight national seeds are No. 1 Wake Forest (47-10), No. 2. Florida (44-14), No. 3 Arkansas (41-16), No. 4 Clemson (43-17), No. 5 LSU (43-15), No 6. Vanderbilt (41-18), No. 7 Virginia (45-12) and No. 8 Stanford (38-16).
If the top eight seeds advance, they will earn the right to also host a Super Regional where the winner of a best-of-three series advances to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., from June 15-26.
The rest of the top 16 teams hosting regionals are: No. 9 Miami (Florida) (40-19), No. 10 Coastal Carolina (39-19), No. 11 Oklahoma St. (41-18), No. 12 Kentucky (36-18), No. 13 Auburn (34-21-1), No. 14 Indiana St. (42-15), No. 15 South Carolina (39-19) and No. 16 Alabama (40-19).
Aggies Sent to California
Big 12 tournament champion TCU (37-22) will face Arizona (33-24) in the Fayetteville Regional hosted by Arkansas. The Horned Frogs and the Wildcats play at 8 p.m. on ESPNU.
Texas A&M (36-25) lost in the SEC tournament final to Vanderbilt, and they got the long flight to California to meet Cal State Fullerton (31-22) in the Stanford Regional. They draw the late 9 p.m. start on ESPN2. Stanford (38-16) plays San Jose State (31-25) at 4 p.m. on ESPN+.
Dallas Baptist (45-14) has one of the nation’s best records coming out of Conference USA, and it will face No. 3 seed Washington (34-18) in the Stillwater Regional hosted by Oklahoma State. The game will be at noon on ESPN+, then the Cowboys (41-18) take on Oral Roberts (46-11) at 6 p.m. on ESPN+.
Texas Tech (39-21) will play No. 2 seed UConn (43-15) in the Gainesville Regional hosted by Florida at 11 a.m. on ESPNU. The Gators (44-14), the national No. 2 seed, play against Florida A&M (29-28) at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
Western Athletic champion Sam Houston (38-23) faces Oregon State (39-18) in the Baton Rouge Regional hosted by LSU at 7 p.m. on ESPN+. The Tigers (43-15) face surprising Tulane (19-40) after the Green Wave won the American Athletic Conference championship. They play at 2 p.m. on ESPNU.
All six Texas universities face an uphill battle just to get to the Super Regional round. Advancing to the College World Series seems like a longshot, but the Texas Longhorns have the talent to get rolling, Texas A&M is coming off a hot weekend, and Dallas Baptist has several wins against NCAA Tournament teams, so anything’s possible.
