Will Bolt and his B1G Champions are headed to Stillwater for the NCAA Regional Tournament and will face the Florida Gators in the first round. The second seeded Cornhuskers are also joined by the host Oklahoma State Cowboys and the Niagara Purple Eagles. Oklahoma State blew through the Big 12 conference tournament, and Niagara won the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Florida comes in with a 28-27 record, and was knocked out of the SEC tournament in their first game. They were considered a bubble team at best, but with an athletic director on the selection committee, they ended up in the field of 64. That said, they have arguably one of the best players in college baseball, Jac Caglianone. The committee chair cited their strength of schedule in their selection. Regardless of their record, they will be a formidable opponent for Nebraska.

The sixteen host sites were named on Sunday afternoon after the completion of the final conference tournament. To no surprise, the SEC and ACC dominated within this list, each of the two conferences having five host sites. In addition, it is no surprise that Oregon State is the only host in a northern state, though arguably there were some deserving schools, for example, Indiana State. However, when you look at the power-base of this sport, you still have to look where the sun shines longer. Here are the sixteen host sites for this year:

• Athens, Georgia – Georgia (39-15)
• Chapel Hill, North Carolina – North Carolina (42-13)
• Charlottesville, Virginia – Virginia (41-15)
• Clemson, South Carolina – Clemson (41-14)
• Bryan-College Station, Texas – Texas A&M (44-13)
• Corvallis, Oregon – Oregon State (42-14)
• Fayetteville, Arkansas – Arkansas (43-14)
• Greenville, North Carolina – East Carolina (43-15)
• Knoxville, Tennessee – Tennessee (50-11)
• Lexington, Kentucky – Kentucky (40-14)
• Norman, Oklahoma – Oklahoma (37-19)
• Raleigh, North Carolina – NC State (33-20)
• Santa Barbara, California – UC Santa Barbara (42-12)
• Stillwater, Oklahoma – Oklahoma State (40-17)
• Tallahassee, Florida – Florida State (42-15)
• Tucson, Arizona – Arizona (36-21)

Indiana got a bid from the conference as well. They are headed to Knoxville as the 3^rd seed and will take on Southern Miss in their first-round game. The Hoosiers put together a very solid season in spite of a rash of injuries to many of their top-line players. Because they did not make the Sunday final in Omaha, there were some who doubted that they would get the call.

Regular season champions Illinois also made the tournament as the third seed in the Lexington regional, joining top seed Kentucky, Western Michigan, and a team that many thought was deserving of being named a host, the Indiana State Sycamores.

There are a few other Nebraska connections in the tournament. Former coach and Nebraska alum, Andy Sawyers has his SE Missouri State Redhawks in the tournament in back-to-back seasons. Former head coach Dave Van Horn has his Arkansas team are back in the tournament as a host once again, nailing down the fifth seed. The OmaHogs have one of the best pitching staffs in the country.

Nebraska’s strength of schedule shows up with the regional selections as well. In addition to playing Indiana, they also played against the following regional qualifiers this season: Kansas State, Oklahoma, Grand Canyon, and Nicholls.

Of note, ESPN analyst Kyle Peterson has the Stillwater regional as the must-watch of the sixteen. Fasten your seatbelts!

Games times have yet to be announced at this point.

Nebraska baseball is not hosting an NCAA regional in 2024.

That isn’t necessarily a surprise. The Huskers have an RPI at No. 28 and some glaringly bad losses on the résumé, but there remained some outside hope that the committee would find a place for a regional going to Nebraska.

Among the 16 teams selected to host, East Carolina is No. 22 in RPI. Even further down, Arizona’s RPI is 31. The Pirates did get to 43 wins with a tough schedule though, and the Wildcats had the No. 1 nonconference strength of schedule on top of winning the Pac-12 regular season and tournament.

Earlier in the season, Lincoln looked primed to host a regional. The Huskers were ranked by several outlets and rolling. But the midweek woes took over in April. Over the last seven games played on a Tuesday or Wednesday, the only win came with Jackson Brockett’s no-hitter.

Nebraska went 5-8 in games played on Tuesday and Wednesdays for the season, including a Big Ten Conference Tournament opening game loss to Ohio State before an elimination game win over Purdue the next night.

No, the five-game winning streak through the loser’s bracket didn’t bump Nebraska’s RPI enough to warrant a host selection. But it will certainly scare some of the teams selected to host.

NU went 4-0 over the weekend. In games played Thursday through Sunday, the Huskers went 34-12 this year. The regionals will be played Friday to Sunday or Saturday to Monday this week. That bodes well for a team that has enjoyed weekend success all season.

The full field of 64 will be announced Monday at 11 a.m. CDT on ESPN2. Nebraska is already in the field as an automatic qualifier for winning the Big Ten tournament.

The 16 host sites and their records are listed below.

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