Following the announcement of the NCAA Tournament field on ESPN2 Monday afternoon, the broadcast flashed up a graphic detailing which bubble teams were truly the last four in and the first four out according to the selection committee.
Indiana was thought to be one of the teams walking the bubble tightrope, and it turned out they were in fact one of the last four teams to get an at-large bid in the 2024 field.
IU’s reward was being placed in the same regional as the overall No. 1 seed, the Tennessee Volunteers.
Before they get a shot at Tennessee, Indiana will first have to contend with No. 2 seed Southern Mississippi, a team that finished No. 26 in the RPI.
But Jeff Mercer’s Hoosiers are no strangers to tough competition. They finished with a top-40 strength of schedule. In the end, that’s probably what put them over the top and got them into the national tournament.
“I think a thread that seemed to weave through that last grouping of schools was strength of schedule,” said D1 Baseball Committee Chairman Matt Hogue. “I think the committee felt very strongly about that as we reviewed and vetted and scrubbed, through an incredibly thorough process, all those teams you just listed on the screen. I think in many cases that ruled the day.”
Here are the first pitch times and broadcast information for the first two games at the Knoxville Regional at Lindsey Nelson Stadium:
Friday, May 31
#2 Southern Miss. (41-18) vs. #3 Indiana (32-24-1), 1 p.m., ESPN+
#1 Tennessee (50-11) vs. #4 Northern Ky. (35-22), 7 p.m., SECN
Ticket information, for those looking to travel to the NCAA Regional, will be available this week. The NCAA Baseball Regionals will run from Friday, May 31st to Monday, June 3rd.
Here is the remaining schedule for the double-elimination regional in Knoxville:
Saturday, June 1
Game 3 – Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, Noon ET (TBD)
Game 4 – Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 6 p.m. ET (TBD)
Sunday, June 2
Game 5 – Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, Noon ET (TBD)
Game 6 – Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 4, 6 p.m. ET (TBD)
Monday, June 3
Game 7 (if necessary) – Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, TBD (TBD)
The winner advances to the Super Regional round of 16.
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