Virginia Baseball Regional: Schedule, Preivew, Bracket Breakdown

Virginia Baseball will look to begin its journey to Omaha on Friday when they open play in the Hattiesburg Regional.

After an uneven final month of play, UVA is hoping that it can recapture some of its early season magic. Despite their poor play to finish the season, the Cavaliers were still able to get a No. 2 seed in a regional, and the Hattiesburg regional is expected to be one of the most competitive regionals in the entire tournament.

There is an argument to be made that Virginia has the most talented lineup in this regional. A top six of Eric Becker, AJ Gracia, Joe Tiroly, Sam Harris, Harrison Didawick, and Jake Weatherspoon is right up there with Southern Miss and Jacksonville State, who are going to be tough foes to take down.

Regional Schedule

Friday

Game 1: Southern Miss vs. Little Rock- 2:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+
Game 2: Virginia vs. Jacksonville State- 7:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+

Saturday

Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2

Sunday

Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5

Monday

Game 7 (if necessary): Rematch of Game 6

Game times for Saturday will be set after the matchups on Friday.

Bracket Breakdown

Virginia may have missed the NCAA Tournament last season, but they are usually a reliable team to make it past the regional round. In three of their last four regional appearances, UVA has turned in a College World Series bid.

Yes this team enter the tournament not playing its best baseball down the stretch, but the 2015 national championship team was a No. 3 seed in a regional and got hot at the right time.

Why not the Hoos?

While there are not any other power conference teams in the Hattiesburg regional, that does not mean that things are going to be a breeze. I think Jacksonville State is one of the most underrated teams in the entire country, as they have multiple wins over Auburn (regional host) and tournament teams like Liberty and Missouri State. If UVA's pitching does not shore up, the Gamecocks can put up runs in a hurry.

Southern Miss is a real threat to not only get to Omaha, but perhaps win the entire thing. They narrowly missed out on a top eight seed nationally, but this team has beaten Oregon State, Alabama, Ole Miss, and Troy, among several others, to pile up a 44-15 record. The Golden Eagles have played one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the country and their RPI sits at No. 12.

Getting out of this regional is going to require the bullpen to stabalize and for the bats to continue their momentum they built in the loss to Georgia Tech. Despite losing to the Yellow Jackets, UVA put up 10 runs on one of the best teams in the country and it was the best the offense had looked in over a month.