In D1 college baseball this season, Indiana State has consistently been one of the top teams in the nation and has the RPI to prove it. Despite that, on selection Monday, the Sycamores found themselves on the two-line instead of being a host team.
The decision to make Indiana State a 2-seed in the Lexington regional instead of a host team 1-seed perplexed individuals around the sport. Following selection Monday, D1 Baseball Committee Chairman Matt Hogue did his best to explain why the Sycamores landed on the two-line.
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“As far as Indiana State, again, it’s always close when you’ve got four or five teams, and you’re trying to find the differentiators for hosting,” Hogue said. “And as I had mentioned about Mississippi State, Duke, and the others we discussed, there’s a lot of the same combination of factors that you’re trying to match, compare teams, and come to a consensus. And then the committee, they vote their will, at that point.
“The one thing I’ll add; you ask about the geography. There are some fixtures in place that do compel the bracketing to be as regional as possible. Those are NCAA policies, and we have to abide by those and follow those… that probably gives you a little bit of an idea of how they end up in the location they do.”
Given the comments by Hogue, there was more at play than overall record and RPI when it came to deciding who would host during the regional round of this year’s tournament. For Indiana State, whatever those additional requirements were, they were unable to meet them, or at least they were better-suited options from programs of equal or greater caliber as the Sycamores.
The Sycamores finished 2024 with a 42-13 record and won the Missouri Valley regular season title. Unfortunately, in the conference tournament, Indiana State lost a close one in a winner-takes-all battle against Evansville 8-6.
Regardless of seeding, Indiana State has an opportunity to carve out its own destiny in this year’s regional round of the NCAA tournament. The Sycamores will start off the Lexington Regional against a familiar foe, the Illinois Fighting Illini. The two programs have faced off against one another twice this season, with Indiana State winning the first matchup at home 7-6. Illinois would return the favor, winning on their home field by way of the run rule 21-11, stopping the game in the 7th inning.
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