College baseball regionals started off on May 30th, and fans expected chaos after Texas A&M became the first preseason #1 seed to not qualify for regional playoffs. Well, those fans got that and more. Here are the craziest moments of the 2025 regional playoffs.
Down goes #1 Seed Vanderbilt
When regional seeds and hosts were announced, the Vanderbilt Commodores were selected as not just a host school, but the #1 overall seed. Vanderbilt was expected to be a strong contender for the 2025 title going into the tournament, proving those beliefs to be correct with a 4-3 win over their first game against Wright State. They stumbled vs Louisville the next day, but facing the same team they had just beaten, things would be fine, right? Wrong. So incredibly wrong. Vanderbilt lost 5-4 in their second game vs the Wright State Raiders. The #1 seed lost to a public research university. This marks the first time a #1 regional seed has missed the regional finals in the history of the tournament.
Horns Down
Texas came into the regionals as a host school and the #2 overall seed. They were a lock to advance to the tournament and a favorite to win it all. One team had a problem with that, and that team was UTSA. Texas crushed the other 2 teams in their group (Houston Christian and Kansas State), but when it was time to take on the Roadrunners, they folded. They went 0-2 against UTSA, losing 7-9 and 4-7. This became UTSA’s first regional championship in school history.
The Little Rock Trojans’ Improbable Run
The Trojans had lost 13 of their last 14 regular-season games. Their hopes at accomplishing anything during this season seemed over. Key word: “seemed”. The Trojans won 7 of their last 8, they won 5 games in 4 days to win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament. They had a sub-500 record entering the regionals. The Trojans entered the Baton Rouge regional and crushed Rhode Island 22-10, then followed up by beating #20 ranked Dallas Baptist 8-6. But then came the real challenge. The #6 seed, #3 nationally ranked, LSU Tigers. No one believed that Little Rock had a chance. LSU had -5000 odds entering the game. Accordingly, the Tigers jumped out with a 3-0 lead after the first inning. Tigers fans began to fantasize of the upcoming super regionals. And then everything went wrong. The Trojans scored 6 unanswered runs to take the lead. With a final score of 10-4, the Trojans shocked the baseball world. Although Little Rock would fall 10-6 in their next game, they have given the college baseball world a memorable run.
Home (not so) sweet home
The home field advantage did not prove worthy this postseason. If you’re unaware of the regional baseball format, I’ll explain it here. 64 teams qualify for the regional section of the NCAA tournament, broken down into 16 groups. The top 16 seeds all host their group at their home stadium. These are usually the best teams in college baseball, so most teams advance to super regionals. Not this season. Out of the 16 teams that hosted regionals, 9 advanced. Out of those 9, 5 played in an elimination game on Monday. Those eliminated include the previously mentioned 1 seed Vanderbilt and 2 seed Texas, 7 seed Georgia, 10 seed Ole Miss, and 16 seed Southern Miss.
Perfection in Shreveport, Louisiana
Pivoting from the moments from regionals, I thought it was worthy to mention the NAIA championship. On Friday, May 30th, LSU Shreveport won the NAIA championship. Why would I mention NAIA baseball? LSU Shreveport’s impressive record. A historic 59-0. The first ever college baseball team across all levels to complete a perfect season.
Rough year for Texas A&M
In addition to Vanderbilt becoming the first #1 seed to not advance past regionals, it is important to mention Texas A&M softball. The Aggies were defeated by Liberty 6-5 in regionals. This became another chapter of a long list of A&M sports disappointments, including the previously mentioned Aggie baseball team missing the regional playoffs. Combine that with Aggie football’s key losses at home, and their blown 10 point second half lead in the round of 32 in this year’s March Madness, and you have a season that makes Aggie fans wish that sports didn’t exist.
Super regionals begin on Friday, June 6th, with #5 seed North Carolina taking on Arizona in the first game of the day.
