The Oklahoma Sooners rise in Baseball America's most recent projected field of 64, currently putting Oklahoma in a spot to host a regional
With four SEC series and one final nonconference game remaining on Oklahoma's regular season schedule, Baseball America has favored the Sooners baseball squad in their projected bracket as of April 21. According to BA, Oklahoma is currently projected to be one of the top 16 teams in the country to host a regional in the 2026 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
The Sooners are the No. 14 overall seed with a hot Nebraska Cornhusker team just behind them at No. 15. SEC foe Mississippi State currently claims the last hosting seed at No. 16. The Bulldogs along with the Sooners are also in a five-way tie for fourth place in the SEC standings with Ole Miss, Auburn, and Florida. All five teams have an SEC record of 10-8 heading into this weekend.
According to Jacob Rudner of Baseball America, things are looking up for the SEC. As of now, the SEC has 12 teams in BA's projected field of 64 with nine of those teams hosting regionals and four of them favored to be hosts in the super regionals should those teams win in their respective regionals. The nine SEC teams projected to host are also in the top 20 in RPI. With how strong the SEC is this season, Rudner believes that the magic number is 16 SEC wins to earn a national seed.
Here is Baseball America's current top 16 national seeds:
- UCLA (Big Ten)
- Texas (SEC)
- North Carolina (ACC)
- Georgia Tech (ACC)
- Auburn (SEC)
- Texas A&M (SEC)
- Georgia (SEC)
- Coastal Carolina (Sun Belt)
- Alabama (SEC)
- Oregon State (Independent)
- Florida State (ACC)
- Ole Miss (SEC)
- Florida (SEC)
- Oklahoma (SEC)
- Nebraska (Big Ten)
- Mississippi State (SEC)
With Florida and Ole Miss just ahead of Oklahoma in the seeding, the Sooners still have plenty of opportunities in their last four SEC three-game series, including the SEC tournament.
The Sooner's quest of impressing the tournament committee begins this weekend when Oklahoma travels to Auburn in a crucial series. If Oklahoma can win two out of three on the road against the Tigers, this could raise a lot of eyebrows and easily put the Sooners in the conversation of hosting a regional. Not to mention, the Sooner's remaining conference series include Florida at home, at Arkansas, and Tennessee at the Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City. If Oklahoma just splits the 12 remaining SEC games, that would put them at the earlier mentioned 16-win mark in conference play.
The Sooners will also need help from other teams.
Here are some notable series this weekend that could impact Oklahoma's overall seeding:
- LSU at Mississippi State (need LSU to win)
- Nebraska at Illinois (need Illinois to win)
- Texas A&M at Florida (need A&M to win)
- Georgia at Ole Miss (need Georgia to win)
Oklahoma is coming off of a 7-6 comeback win against Oral Roberts while Auburn cruised by Samford 14-4 in run-rule fashion. In SEC play, Oklahoma crushed Missouri last weekend at home in a three-game sweep and Auburn earned two huge wins out of three games at Florida.
The Oklahoma-Auburn series will be on Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 with both matchups starting at 6:00 p.m. CT on ESPN+. The series will conclude on Sunday, April 26 at 1:00 p.m. CT on ESPN+.