Latest NCAA baseball projections have Arizona facing some familiar names

By taking two of three from Oregon State last weekend, Arizona erased any doubt over whether it would make the NCAA Tournament. Being able to host a regional may even still be possible for the Wildcats depending how they fare this weekend at Oregon and in the Pac-12 Tournament.

But if the tourney began today, the UA would be hitting the road for regionals. And it would be facing some names from its recent past.

D1Baseball’s latest NCAA projection has Arizona headed to Lubbock, Texas, where No. 15 national seed Texas Tech would be the host. The Wildcats would be the No. 3 seed in that regional, opening against LSU … the team led by former UA head coach Jay Johnson and which features three former players including slugger Jacob Berry.

LSU (34-18) is No. 34 in the RPI, three spots ahead of Arizona (35-18) at No. 37. Texas Tech (35-16) is No. 33 and projected No. 4 seed Campbell (34-16) is No. 58, which would make this regional ultra balanced.

Baseball America still has Arizona as a No. 3 regional seed, with the Wildcats projected to play in Louisville, with the Cardinals (36-15-1) projected as the No. 7 national seed. The UA would open against Ole Miss, the team it beat in the Super Regionals last June to reach the College World Series.

Ole Miss (31-19) sits at No. 38 in the RPI after sweeping three games at LSU last weekend. Louisville is No. 10 in the RPI while the fourth team in that projected regional, Wright State (25-14), is No. 160.