Florida Teams Seeded 1-2-3 in NCAA Baseball

If you’re looking for the power in college baseball, you don’t have to range far. The NCAA didn’t Monday in selecting the top three seeded teams for its World Series.

Florida (46-16) was given the No. 1 seeding, Miami (50-10) No. 2 and Florida State (53-18) No. 3 for the tournament that begins Friday in Omaha.

Miami’s first opponent will be No. 7-seeded Long Beach State (41-21-1), the West region winner.

USC (44-16) is seeded fourth, and its reward is a Saturday game against twice defending national champion Louisiana State (46-17), which coasted through its regional, but is still seeded only fifth.

“The defending champion aspect is not a factor,” said Ron Wellman, athletic director at Wake Forest and chair of the selection committee. “It boiled down to the fact that LSU is 1-2 against Florida and 2-3 against Mississippi State, and Florida is the [Southeastern Conference] champion.”

And the Gators, coached by former Pepperdine coach Andy Lopez, will face SEC foe Mississippi State (41-21) on Saturday.

Florida State begins the World Series Friday against Arizona State (38-22), which got to Omaha by beating Georgia Tech, 3-1, Monday.

Florida’s top-seeded spot is largely the product of its regular-season performance against other World Series teams. The Gators were 2-1 against Florida State, 2-2 against Miami, 2-1 against LSU and 3-0 against Mississippi State.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

College World Series

At Rosenblatt Stadium, Omaha, Neb.

When: Friday-June 6

First-round games: Friday, No. 3 Florida State (53-18) vs. No. 6 Arizona State (38-22) and No. 2 Miami (50-10) vs. No. 7 Long Beach State (42-21-1). Saturday, No. 4 USC (44-16) vs. No. 5 Louisiana State (46-17) and No. 1 Florida (46-16) vs. No. 8 Mississipp State (41-21)