After almost three months without college baseball, the sport will return this week in the form of the Collegiate Summer Baseball Invitational in Bryan, Texas. Four teams, comprised of players from over 70 Division 1 institutions, will compete in a Regional-style college baseball tournament starting Thursday night. Players from the SEC, ACC, Pac-12, and American, among other conferences, will participate in the three-day tournament. "It's been a huge collective of a lot of people to get us to playing ball again, and we want to make sure it's the best baseball possible." Visionary behind the CSBI, Uri Geva is excited to get back to baseball: "It's been a huge collective of a lot of people to get us to playing ball again, and we want to make sure it's the best baseball possible." Player safety is one of the primary concerns. All players and staff were tested for COVID-19 upon arrival and have been isolated since. "They are committed to the game as much as we are," said Geva of the players coming in from around the country. Additionally, each team has an 11-pitcher staff and none of the pitchers are expected to have extended outings. Find the full rosters for the CSBI here. Highlighting the coaching lineup for the CSBI are former big leaguers, LaTroy Hawkins and Drew Sutton. Hawkins' MLB career spanned over 21 seasons. Geva hopes that the tournament will inspire unity and that is reflected in the names chosen for the four teams. "We chose Unity, Freedom, Liberty, and Independence because those are all about what this country needs right now." Thursday's games will be aired on ESPN2, featuring Kyle Peterson and Jason Benetti as broadcasters. All six games will be streaming live and on demand via the CSBI website with Geoff Blum and Brett Dolan leading the broadcasting team. The CSBI is partnering to raise money for No Kid Hungry. 5% of each streaming subscription from the college baseball tournament will be donated to support the charity. Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball

It's true that the Road to Omaha was cut a few months short this year, but the staff at College Baseball Nation has put together our Omaha Eight anyway. Earlier this week we released our hypothetical field of 64, and now we've chosen our Regional and Super Regional winners. Up first, John's (@johnny_omaha) picks. John envisions four SEC teams advancing to Omaha: Ole Miss (1), Florida (2), Vanderbilt (6), and 2-seed from the Tallahassee Regional, Tennessee. This would mark the eighth Omaha trip in the last 11 years for the Gators. Joining the SEC squads are two ACC teams (the overall four and seven seeds, Louisville and Duke, respectively) and one team each from the Pac-12 (UCLA, fifth overall seed) and Big 12 (Texas Tech, third overall seed). Duke has not made the College World Series since 1961 but has been a program on the rise under Head Coach Chris Pollard. The Blue Devils have appeared in back-to-back Super Regionals. John's Omaha Eight would see three returners from the 2019 College World Series, Vanderbilt, Louisville, and Texas Tech. Vanderbilt went on to win the 2019 College World Series. Kyle's (@kylemckelv) Omaha Eight also includes four SEC teams, but not the same contingency. Kyle predicts top seeds Ole Miss and Florida to advance, along with the tenth overall seed, Georgia, and two-seed from the Miami Regional, Texas A&M. The Aggies are led by likely top five overall draft pick, Asa Lacy. Along with the SEC crew, Kyle predicts two Big 12 teams to advance to Omaha, Texas Tech, and Nashville two seed, Oklahoma State. These two teams would meet in their first game in Omaha. Likewise, Kyle pairs up two Pac-12 teams in their Omaha opener: UCLA and Arizona State (13). This would mark the Sun Devils 23rd appearance in Omaha but first since 2010. Have your own thoughts on who would win each Regional? Respond with your picks on Twitter or Instagram and we will retweet and share on our story Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball

Although COVID-19 took away the actual postseason in college baseball, we have made our best attempt at crafting a field of 64. Without the benefit of conference tournaments to dictate the auto-bids, we spent spent hours debating who would emerge victorious from each of the 31 conferences. Here's what we came up with: Ole Miss, our projected SEC winner, earned the number one overall seed with Florida, on their heels as the second seed. Texas Tech (Big 12), Louisville (ACC), and UCLA (Pac-12) start a string of three straight projected conference champions to fill the three, four, and five seeds. The top eight seeds round out with defending National Champions, Vanderbilt, followed by Duke and Miami. UCF and UCSB, projected winners of the American and Big West respectively, also earned hosting rights. LBSU, TCU, and NC State were all in the conversation for hosting but ultimately just missed the cut. The SEC led the way with six hosts, followed by the ACC (four), Big 12 and Pac-12 (two), and American and Big West with one each. The SEC also earned the most tournament bids (ten). Next are the ACC (eight), Big 12 (six), Big Ten and Pac-12 (four), American (three), and the Sun Belt, West Coast Conference, Conference USA, and Big West each with two. All of the other 21 conferences only earned their automatic bid. Notre Dame was our first team out of the tournament. The Fighting Irish finished the season with a road sweep of North Carolina, but ultimately, we interpreted this result as more of a reflection of a down year for the Tar Heels than a banner year for the Irish. We expect good things in South Bend in the coming years, though. Alabama was excluded from the tournament despite their 16-1 record. The Tide were hurt by a combination of the weakness of their schedule and the strength of the SEC West. We project that Alabama would not have won enough SEC games in a full season to earn an at-large bid. Check out the College Baseball Nation Staff picks for this bracket! Thanks for stopping by! Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball

College Baseball Nation welcomes guest writer Larry Horn for his thoughts on how COVID-19 is affecting college baseball. It’s hard to believe that it is mid-May with no conference championships in sight. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the world, there are many changes in college baseball--and that’s especially true for the MLB Draft. Only five rounds in the MLB draft One of the biggest changes directly affecting college baseball is a five-round draft process happening in 2020, down from the typical 40 rounds. Not only will fewer players be given the opportunity to join professional baseball, but there will also be a significant financial impact for hundreds of players. In the 2019 MLB Draft, 400 players drafted in the sixth round or later received six-figure signing bonuses which will obviously not happen this year. Any player that does not get drafted in the 2020 MLB Draft will be offered a maximum of $20,000 to sign. This may turn players away from pursuing a career in baseball or at the very least force players to return for another season of college baseball. However, returning for another season of college baseball is not a perfect solution for undrafted players. The 2021 MLB Draft will pull from a larger draft class that will contain even more talent. The MLB also has the right to shrink the 2021 Draft which may make next year’s draft even more competitive. As for college baseball, with the return of so many players for an additional year and the addition of the freshman class, 2021 college baseball teams may be the most talented ever. The on-the-field product should be exceptional. COVID-19 & Financial Uncertainty COVID-19 is wreaking even more havoc in the college baseball world. Several schools are in danger of losing their baseball program due to decreased revenue caused by the pandemic. Bowling Green State University and Furman University were the first two schools to announce the discontinuation of their baseball programs, and Chicago State plans to vote on the issue next month. Many conferences and teams may opt for shorter seasons with little or no interleague play to reduce travel costs. For example, the Colonial Athletic Association, Big East Conference and Atlantic 10 Conference are in talks for a regional scheduling agreement to help reduce travel costs. Everyone is thinking about ways to alleviate financial pressures. Additionally, there are some questions about fall baseball and what impact that may have on the 2021 season. Would the season need to be pushed back if some schools are not able to play fall ball? Each week there is more uncertainty about what will happen next year. It is difficult to say what the 2021 college baseball season will look like, but it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic has changed our sport in so many ways. My name is Larry Horn. I have been a writer for Overtime Heroics for almost a year. I have a love for all sports. I meanly do football articles but I noticed there isn't much written about college baseball so that's where I want to see fans coming to read. For more sports news especially baseball come see @larryhorn120174 and others at overtimeheroics.com. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball

Played in Hoover, Alabama every year since 1998, the SEC Tournament has given SEC teams one last chance to jockey for NCAA Tournament hosting position. Just last year, a run to the tournament championship game secured Ole Miss a spot as a Regional host (and possibly knocked Texas A&M out). In the four plus decades since the SEC has played a conference tournament, LSU leads the way with 12 tournament championships. Winning six of the last twelve tournaments has solidified the Tigers' lead. The current SEC Tournament format was adopted in 2013 with 12 of 14 teams participating. A single elimination game between the 5-12 seeds narrows the tournament to eight teams before double elimination shortens the list of competitors to four. The last four teams compete in single-elimination games to determine a champion. The 90s were an interesting time for the SEC as conference expansion forced changes in the tournament. From 1993-1995, the SEC held separate tournaments for the East and West divisions. Tennessee was the largest benefactor of this format, winning the East's tournament all three years. In 1990, LSU shared the tournament championship with Mississippi State after weather issues forced the finals to be abandoned. LSU led 6-0 in the third inning when the game was cancelled. Prior to 1977, a best-of-three series between the top team in each division determined the champion. During this era, Mississippi State led with six championships, followed by Ole Miss (5) and Alabama (4). Thanks for checking out College Baseball Nation! We appreciate you stopping by. Want to chat college baseball and more? Head over to our forum. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball

Amidst the news of all the cancellations of seemingly every sporting event in 2020, the San Diego League is still optimistic. The COO of the SDL, Connor Little, said “We tried to remain as positive as possible. We’ll just try to do our best to give these players an opportunity to play this summer.” Created in 2019 with four teams, the San Diego League now features eight teams that play a 33-game schedule throughout the summer. All regular-season and post-season games are played on the campus of Cal State University San Marcos. There is also an All-Star game that is played at Petco Park, the home of the San Diego Padres. With the players’ growth in mind, the SDL offers state-of-the-art technology to provide the players with the analytics they need to improve themselves. Athletes will be tested with Blast Motion and/or Rapsodo technologies before, during, and after the season to allow them to monitor their progress throughout the summer and become better baseball players even after their time in the SDL. After just a few minutes talking to Little, I was able to tell just how passionate he and his fellow staff members are about athlete growth. Personalized workout programs at the 1RM Performance facility, cage time at the 5 Tool Hitting Center, and arm care with the help of physical therapy center, The Training Room, are a few of the benefits the athletes receive in the SDL. Little also appreciates how close all their players are to everything that is available to them. “We are staying at one facility as of right now because that is who we are. One of our biggest things was knocking out a lot of travel and bus time,” Little said. The league is expanding from four teams last year to eight this year. Little added that they will have representation from 16 different NCAA Division I programs after having two last summer. He hopes that, “as [they] continue to grow, people see that [they] are doing [their] best to help the player.” As of now, the SDL is still planning on having its season, which will start May 30th and go until July 29th. Obviously the COVID-19 situation will be closely monitored, and the staff is preparing for what to do if any government-issued social distancing mandates are to be announced until that point. One of the benefits of the SDL is that they are operated out of one office and when asked about potential backup plans, he said “We control all the teams within our organization. We’re able to be flexible . . . and maneuver how we need to, depending on the situation at hand.” The SDL is showing that they are already one of the top summer leagues in the country dedicated to player growth. They are holding out hope that the league will be able to happen and so are we. UPDATE (5/8): The San Diego League has released a plan to allow for summer baseball that is in accordance with guidance from health officials. See the plan below: Thanks for checking out our post! To learn more about the San Diego League, visit their website here: thesandiegoleague.com. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans!

We received hundreds of thousands of votes in our online polls to find the top stadiums in the country before finally crowning Mississippi State's Dudy Noble as the champion. Affectionately called "The Dude," Dudy Noble amassed 53,054 votes in the final round. Mississippi State has invested over $60 million dollars to have the best facilities in the country. The final round of voting pitted Egg Bowl rivals, Mississippi State and Ole Miss, against each other. Ole Miss's Swayze Field finished second, just ahead of Arkansas's Baum-Walker Stadium. Clark-LeClair Stadium on the campus of ECU was the only stadium outside of the SEC to reach the Final Four. Clark-LeClair stadium is famous for the "Jungle," a crew of raucous fans in left field. Olsen Field in College Station, Texas marks one of three stadiums from the state to make the top ten. Houston's Schroeder Park (8) and Texas's Disch-Falk Field (9) also join Olsen Field in the top ten. We have since polled almost 100 D1 college baseball players and asked them their favorite places to play. Be sure to check out the players' top stadiums. Many familiar stadiums and a few surprises made the cut. Thanks for checking out our College Baseball Stadium Rankings! We appreciate you stopping by. Want to chat college baseball and more? Head over to our forum. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #rankings #collegebaseball

Mississippi State's Dudy Noble Field has emerged victorious in College Baseball Nation's 2020 Best Stadium Tournament! After receiving 53,054 votes in the Finals, Dudy Noble Field dispatched Ole Miss's Swayze Field. The Tournament ignited a Twitter rendition of the Egg Bowl rivalry, as the two schools hit nearly 100,000 votes in the Finals in just 48 hours. Tallying over 75,000 votes in the tournament, The Dude emerged as a frontrunner early on despite a lack of support from official social media accounts. Aid came from unlikely sources like Central Michigan's Baseball team and a host of other accounts including Mississippi State's Barstool affiliate. Bulldogs legend Jake Mangum tweeted his support of The Dude. Former Mississippi State standout, Elijah MacNamee echoed Mangum's support. Dudy Noble eliminated several iconic ballparks, including Beaver Field, which is set in the beautiful Appalachian Mountains, and Miller Park, which is nestled into the Rockies. The Dude defeated ECU's Clark-LeClair Stadium in the Final Four, despite a fervent effort by Pirates fans. Thanks for reading! Message us on Twitter (@CollegeBallNat) or email us at collegeballnat@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patron. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans!

It's time for a good ol' fashioned Twitter feud. We have gone from 64 stadiums down to the final two. Who else but rivals, Ole Miss and Mississippi State, for a finals matchup for the ages? Swayze has knocked off several impressive stadiums en route to its Finals appearance, including Baum-Walker in the Final Four. Dudy Noble took down upstart Miller Park and Clark-LeClair on its journey to the Final. So far over 60,000 fans have voted in the Finals which end Friday afternoon. Vote on our Twitter page! Thanks for reading! Message us on Twitter (@CollegeBallNat) or email us at collegeballnat@gmail.com. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patron. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans!

With the spread of COVID-19 it is looking like this may be College Baseball Nation's last top 25 of the season. Congratulations to Ole Miss for finishing on top! Thanks for checking out our College Baseball Rankings! We appreciate you stopping by. Want to chat college baseball and our College Baseball Top 25? Head over to our forum. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #rankings #collegebaseball #top25

We are a month into the season and are starting to get a better picture of who is surging and who is slumping. Check out College Baseball Nation's winners and losers of the 2020 season so far. Winners #1 Florida (16-0) After narrowly sneaking into the NCAA Tournament and quickly being eliminated a year ago, Florida entered 2020 with higher expectations. The young arms were supposed to have developed and the Gators were expected to compete near the top of the SEC East (behind Vanderbilt and Georgia, of course). Allowing just 2.8 runs per game (good for 11th in the country), Florida's arms are clearly improved in 2020. A 16-0 start, which includes a sweep at rival, Miami, exceeds any fan's highest hopes, and the Gators look destined for Omaha. #3 Ole Miss (14-1) There was a lot to like about the 2020 Ole Miss Rebels team coming into the season, including the fact that the Rebels had a strong rotation led by Doug Nikhazy and Gunnar Hoglund and that the Rebels were bringing in the second best recruiting class in the country. The rotation has performed as expected with Nikhazy sporting a 2.35 ERA, Hoglund, a 1.16 ERA, and freshman and Sunday starter, Derek Diamond, holding an impressive 3.48 ERA. Beyond that, the Ole Miss offense has greatly exceeded expectations, leading the country in home runs (31, which is more than 2 HR per game). The Rebels lost Opening Day to Louisville and have not lost since. #7 Duke (12-3) Entering the season, Duke Head Coach Chris Pollard said of P Bryce Jarvis: “[He] looks like a bona fide Friday night stud. Candidly, he looks like a first rounder.” After pitching a perfect game and maintaining a tiny 0.48 WHIP, Jarvis has played the part. Opening up ACC play with a series win against Florida State has helped established Duke as one of the early frontrunners in the ACC race. #8 UCF (15-2) After just missing a Regional a year ago, UCF looked like a team that could be improved heading into 2020. However, no one thought the Knights would be 15-2 with a series sweep at Auburn. In the next two weeks, UCF plays Miami, Florida State (twice), and ECU to start off American Conference play. All of the games are at home and could give UCF the opportunity to make a huge early-season statement. #12 Oklahoma (13-4) It was hard to pick who would challenge Texas Tech in the Big 12 heading into the season, but the Sooners have emerged as the top contender. While the offense has impressed (6.5 runs per game), the Sooners' team ERA of 3.02 highlights the strength of the team. Oklahoma has already notched a series win at #25 Virginia and won two out of three at the Shriners College Classic. The Sooners are looking like a potential Regional host team, if not better. The Big West The Big West was consistently a multi-bid league until the past two seasons when it sent just a single team to a Regional. The conference is back on track this season with two teams ranked in the top 25, #16 UCSB and #18 LBSU. Add to that strong starts by Cal State Northridge and Hawaii, and the conference RPI is in a position to boost at least a second team into a Regional. Two of these teams are led by first-year head coaches, Eric Valenzuela at LBSU and Dave Serrano at CSUN. Losers #9 Vanderbilt It is hard to call Vanderbilt a "loser," but when the expectations are to compete for a National Championship, the season has been a little disappointing so far. Two 1-2 tournaments (MLB4 and Southern California College Baseball Classic) have called into question whether the Commodores can compete with elite teams. Pitchers Mason Hickman and Kumar Rocker have both missed starts due to injury and Vanderbilt's offense is scoring only 5.5 runs per games (140th in the country). Some improved health from starters might be all the Commodores need to return to National Championship contender status. North Carolina (10-7) With a home series loss to Dallas Baptist and a home sweep at the hands of Notre Dame, the Tar Heels are putting themselves in jeopardy of missing a Regional. In between those series was a losing weekend at the ACC/Big Ten Challenge, and suddenly, the Tar Heels are heading into week five with only one winning weekend all year (an Opening Weekend series win versus Middle Tennessee). UNC next travels to Duke and may struggle to win a game. An 0-6 start to ACC play might spell the end of the season for the Tar Heels. The Big Ten At 94-84, the Big Ten currently has the 12th best record as a conference. Particularly concerning is that the three highest regarded teams heading into 2020, Michigan (8-7), Minnesota (6-10), and Ohio State (5-7), are all struggling. It is not uncommon for the Big Ten to start slowly, but the conference will need to win some of its remaining non-conference games to build the conference RPI. It is worth nothing that Iowa (7-5) and Illinois (8-5) each have some nice wins and are building their at-large cases. Stanford/Cal State Fullerton/Rice These three blue bloods of college baseball are a combined 11-36 and 8-33 when you exclude the Stanford vs. Cal State Fullerton series. There is no way around saying that all three of these teams are disappointed. Stanford is replacing most of their offense, while Fullerton and Rice are adjusting to changing coaching staffs. It is unlikely that any of these teams will make a Regional. Thanks for checking out College Baseball Nation! We appreciate you stopping by. Want to chat college baseball and our College Baseball Top 25? Head over to our forum. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #collegebaseball

For the first time this season, the number one team is the same as it was last week. Florida stays in the top spot after sweeping South Florida. Texas Tech stays at number two after their second straight 5-0 week, while Ole Miss moves up to number three after their own perfect week. Louisville jumps up three spots after a strong series win on the road at Wake Forest, while UCLA slips two spots, losing at UCSB in a midweek game and against TCU at the Southern California College Baseball Classic. Georgia dropped a midweek game at Georgia Southern but recovered to sweep UMass and comes in at number six in College Baseball Nation's Top 25. Continuing their hot start to the season, number seven Duke defeated Campbell in the midweek and took two of three off of Florida State to start ACC play. Number eight UCF remains the American's highest ranked team after a 4-0 week. While their talent suggests a higher ranking, Vanderbilt falls to number nine as the Commodores dropped games at UCLA and USC over the weekend. Finishing off the top ten is Miami who started ACC play with a sweep of Pitt. Ending their five game losing streak, #11 Arkansas recovered to win two straight games and defeat South Alabama in a weekend series. A 4-1 week that included a series win over San Diego State propelled Oklahoma to the #12 spot. Just behind the Sooners, Florida State stayed pat at #13 after winning two out of four games against Mercer and Duke. Mississippi State survived without ace, JT Ginn, who is out for the season and swept Quinnipiac. The Bulldogs check in at #14 in the Top 25. A slow start for Arizona State's offense has been erased by a nice offensive showing in a 5-0 week, and the Sun Devils move up five spots to #15 this week. After the Gauchos went 4-0 against the Pac-12 (including games against UCLA and at Oregon State), UCSB moved up nine spots to #16. NC State drops to #17, losing a series at Virginia. Long Beach State slides down two spots to #18 after a 2-2 week. #19 ECU and #20 Tulane mark back-to-back American teams in the poll. Next at #21 and #22 are two Big 12 teams, TCU and Baylor. TCU defeated UCLA but dropped games to Vanderbilt and USC at the Southern California College Baseball Classic. Baylor was also out west, winning two out of three games at Cal Poly, At #23, Tennessee drops nine spots after losing a home series to Wright State. Pepperdine at #24 and Virginia at #25 are both new to the poll. Pepperdine defeated Michigan in a weekend series, and Virginia took down NC State. Dropping out of the rankings are Michigan (#19) and Dallas Baptist (#24). Thanks for checking out our College Baseball Rankings! We appreciate you stopping by. Want to chat college baseball and our College Baseball Top 25? Head over to our forum. Follow us on Twitter and on Instagram to keep up with all of our content! If you like what you are seeing from us and want to support us, consider becoming a Patreon supporter. We depend upon the support of our amazing fans! #rankings #collegebaseball #top25