No. 1 Ole Miss (46-15)
No. 2 Tennessee Tech (48-9)
No. 3 Missouri State (39-15)
No. 4 Saint Louis (38-18)
Ole Miss
The Rebels are the No. 4 national seed after winning the SEC Tournament. Ole Miss is in the NCAA tourney for the 22nd time, including 16 times in the 18 seasons under head coach Mike Bianco. The Rebels are hosting a regional for the eighth time. Ole Miss is 28-4 at home this season. The Rebels are 1-3 all-time against Missouri State, 3-0 vs. Tennessee Tech and 7-1 against Saint Louis. Ryan Olenek is batting .359 with 17 doubles, 32 runs and 27 RBI. Thomas Dillard tops the team with 13 homers and 56 RBI. Ryan Rolison is 9-4 with a 3.79 ERA. He has 107 strikeouts in 90.1 innings. Parker Caracci is 4-2 with 10 saves. He has fanned 68 in 43.2 innings.
Tennessee Tech
The Golden Eagles had a school and OVC-record 28-game win streak. TTU is 2-1-1 all-time against Missouri State. The Golden Eagles lead the country with a batting average of .342, 723 hits, 128 home runs, .436 on-base percentage and 596 runs. All-American Kevin Strohschein is batting .406 with 18 homers and 65 RBI. Fellow All-American Chase Chambers is hitting .400 with 15 dingers and 76 RBI. All-American Travis Moths is 13-2 with a 3.74 ERA. Head coach Matt Bragga is in his 15th season at TTU and has been OVC Coach of the Year four times.
Missouri State
The Bears are making their 11th trip to the NCAA Tournament and fourth in the past seven years. The Bears defeated DBU 7-6 in 10 innings to capture the Missouri Valley Conference crown. Ben Whetstone, the MVC tourney MVP, has a 10-game hit streak. He is hitting .375 with 12 RBI during the streak. Matt Brown tops the team with 14 home runs. Dylan Coleman is ranked 13th nationally with 122 strikeouts. He is second on the school’s career strikeout list with 310. The Missouri State bullpen has won 151 straight games, including 32 this season, taking a lead into the ninth inning, dating back to May of 2014.
Saint Louis
The Billikens won the Atlantic 10 regular season and tourney titles. SLU has one of the top starting rotations in the nation. They have three starters with nine or more wins, two of which had 10 victories (Miller Hogan & Drew Reveno). SLU and Stetson are the only two programs with a pair of 10-win starters. SLU and New Mexico State are the only programs with three starters with nine or more victories. Reveno is 10-2 with a 1.84 ERA, while Hogan is 10-3 with a 2.19 ERA. Hogan has 129 strikeouts in 102.2 innings. Alex King leads the Billikens with 14 home runs and 51 RBI. Jake Garella is batting .362 with 14 doubles, 45 runs and 47 RBI.