OU baseball: Get to know the Atlanta Regional

When OU opens its NCAA Tournament on Friday at the Atlanta Regional against No. 3 seed The Citadel, it’ll have been 10 days since Oklahoma last played a baseball game.

While some teams have played themselves into form– see Oklahoma’s regional-opening opponent The Citadel, winners in 10 of its last 11, including eight in a row– perhaps time away hasn’t been a bad thing for Skip Johnson’s club.

They lost seven of their final 10 games to end the regular season. They were on the wrong end of their last four Southeastern Conference series. To be more direct, playing bad baseball in the month of May. 

“I think going through the conference year and the grind of the conference year I think it’s a great thing. Gives them a mental break. Get finals done and get their finals grades. Relax a little bit and then get back into it,” said OU head coach Skip Johnson. 

The final month of the regular season soured the opinions of many that follow OU baseball, going from contending for one of the final Regional hosts spots – the SEC has five of the top eight national seeds– to just sneaking in as an at-large. 

But it hasn’t for Johnson and his club who understand the challenging road Oklahoma has taken to get to this weekend’s fifth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament. 

“You’re walking into a regional and there’s a reason those guys are there. It’s a good opportunity for us. Three good teams. Georgia Tech is really good. For us, it’s going to be even better. Our conference will prepare us for anything,” said Johnson. 

GET TO KNOW THE ATLANTA REGIONAL 

No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (48-9)

They are the No. 2 overall seed in the Tournament for a reason. Georgia Tech became the first ACC program to win both the regular season and tournament title in 13 years after beating North Carolina on Sunday in the ACC Championship game, earning its highest seed in program history. 

The Yellow Jackets own the best offense in the country and the best offense in modern college baseball history. That’s not my analysis. That’s factually, statistically based. In the 16 seasons of the BBCOR era, the Jackets produced the best average (.358), on-base percentage (.469), slugging percentage (.636), hits (713) and the most runs (616) of any Power Conference team leading into the NCAA Tournament.

Uhhhhhhm, what? 

No. 3 seed The Citadel (35-24) 

The Bulldogs are dancing for the first time since 2010 after earning the automatic bid from the Southern Conference championship on Sunday. Russell Triplett’s club heads into this weekend’s NCAA Tournament having won eight in a row and 10 of its final 11 games. 

The Citadel hit .400 as a team last weekend at the SoCon Tournament, led by Michael Gibson at the plate earning SoCon Tournament MVP honors after going went 14-for-23 over the Bulldogs five games with a home run, four doubles, 12 runs scored and 13 RBIs. He also recorded three saves on the bump. 

The Bulldogs have no problem utilizing a little small-ball as well leading the country in sacrifice bunts (74) and ranking No.16 nationally with 138 stolen bases on the season. 

No. 4 seed Illinois-Chicago (27-27-1) 

The Flames backed up its first outright Missouri Valley Conference regular-season title with a 7-2 win over Southern Illinois on Sunday night in the conference tournament championship game to earn the automatic bid into this weekend’s Atlanta Regional. It will be the program’s seventh NCAA Tournament appearance.

Despite finishing .500 on the season, the Flames went 16-8 in conference play. Ashton Kampa earned Newcomer of the Year and Missouri Valley first team honors, posting a team-leading .411 batting average in conference play. Vidal Colon earned MVC co-Defensive Player of the Year honors. While Flames’ head coach Sean McDermott was named the conference’s Dan Callahan Coach of the Year 

WEEKEND SCHEDULE 

Friday, May 29

Game 1 – (1) Georgia Tech vs. (4) Illinois-Chicago (11 a.m., ACC Network) 

Game 2 – (2) OU vs. (3) The Citadel (4 p.m, ESPN+) 

Saturday, May 30 

Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2

Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Sunday, May 31

Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4

Game 6 – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5

Monday, June 1

Game 7 (if necessary) Rematch Game 6