Utah Baseball One of the Four NCAA Tournament Bubble Teams According to On3
With the end of the regular season less than a month away, the NCAA tournament bubble is starting to form a clearer outlook on the potential programs who could sneak into the field of 64.
On3 Sports writer Jonathan Wagner released his NCAA tournament bubble watch, and he listed Utah among one of the last four in alongside Oregon, Cal, and Illinois-Chicago. While three of the teams are Pac-12 programs, only Oregon and Utah will face each other before the seasons end in what is a must win series for both teams if they want to join the field of 64.
On his analysis of the Utes, Wagner said, "Utah is the final bubble team that made it in the tournament in our latest projections. The Utes are 26-12, 11-7 in the Pac-12 and No. 59 in RPI. Utah’s path is pretty simple. Just win. Their remaining weekends are vs. UCLA, at Oregon, vs. Arizona and at USC. That’s not an easy stretch, but it’s doable. If Utah takes care of business and ends the season strong, they’ll likely be in and maybe not even on the bubble by that point."
The Utes have been on a tear this season to the surprise of many, and their offensive prowess has propelled them to countless high scoring wins on the season. On offense, the team is sporting a .291 batting average with a .846 OPS and a .451 SLG% while racking up 401 hits, 36 homeruns, and 268 RBIs up to this point in the season. On the mound, the Utes have a combined 4.83 ERA and 1.45 WHIP while allowing opposing batters to hit at a .278 average in 352 innings pitched on the campaign.
It won't be an easy road to the NCAA tournament for Utah, but if they can continue their stellar run of form against USC, Arizona, UCLA, and most importantly Oregon, it's hard not to see them squeeze into the bubble come the end of the season.
Next up for Utah is a home field weekend series against conference opponent UCLA from April 26th through the 28th.