Nebraska Baseball Not Among 16 NCAA Regional Hosts

The Huskers will learn their postseason destination Monday morning
Nebraska baseball players do their "palms up" celebration after winning the Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship against Penn State on May 26, 2024.
Nebraska baseball players do their "palms up" celebration after winning the Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship against Penn State on May 26, 2024. / Nebraska Athletics

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.

  • 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)

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.