Last week we covered the first stage of the NCAA baseball championships. At that time, five New York teams had qualified. Unfortunately, after the field has been whittled down to just 16 teams, no New York teams are left standing.
Yesterday began the second stage of the NCAA Baseball Championships, known as the Super Regionals. Last week’s stage featured sixteen different four-team double-elimination tournaments. This stage is much simpler. The sixteen winning teams from last weekend have been split up into eight head-to-head matchups. Best of three games.
Winner moves on. Loser goes home.
Below, we’ll walk you through the schedule for all of Saturday’s games, plus what channel you can find the games on, and what our best bet would be if you choose to bet on the game. If you’re new to betting on baseball, check out our Beginner’s Guide to Baseball Betting.
For more NCAA baseball coverage, visit amNY Sports
Saturday, June 11th
Arkansas (41-19) @ #10 North Carolina (42-20)
- Time: 11:00 A.M. ET
- Channel: ESPN
- Best Bet: Over 10.5 (-120)
- WHY?: These are two streaky offenses but ones that can truly put up some big numbers. North Carolina has the better starting pitching, but Arkansas has the better bullpen. I’m a bit concerned about North Carolina not performing well against tough competition this year, so I’ll just take the over with these two offenses.
Oklahoma (40-21) @ #4 Virginia Tech (44-12)
- Time: 12:00 P.M. ET
- Channel: ESPNU
- Best Bet: Virginia Tech (-145)
- WHY?: I mentioned in Friday’s article that I thought this will be a sweep. That won’t happen since Virginia Tech dropped the first game 5-4, but I think they bounce back with a win today.
#9 Texas (45-19) @ #8 East Carolina (45-19)
- Time: 12:00 P.M. ET
- Channel: ESPN2
- Best Bet: Texas (-145)
- WHY?: Yes, Texas dropped the ball on Friday, but the process made sense. They had their best pitcher going, but Pete Hansen just got hit around. This is not an East Carolina team that is usually offensively dominant, so I expect Texas to be able to bounce back, especially since Lucas Gordon would be a staff ace on almost any other team in the nation.
Notre Dame (38-14) @ #1 Tennessee (55-7)
- Time: 2:00 P.M. ET
- Channel: ESPN2
- Best Bet: Notre Dame +2.5 (-130)
- WHY?: Another shocking result from yesterday as the number one team in the nation had to scratch and claw just to make it a game. Now Notre Dame has their best pitcher going as they look to close out the series. I’m not sure they’ll be able to do it, but I do like the left-handed Bertrand for Notre Dame, so I think he can keep them in the game.
#12 Louisville (42-19-1) @ #5 Texas A&M (40-18)
- Time: 3:00 P.M. ET
- Channel: ESPN2
- Best Bet: Louisville (-115)
- WHY?: I said this series would go to three games, and I’m not going to back away from that now. These are two evenly matched teams, so let’s take Louisville to even this out.
Ole Miss (35-22) @ #11 Southern Miss (47-17)
- Time: 4:00 P.M. ET
- Channel: ESPNU
- Best Bet: Southern Miss (-110)
- WHY?: Ole Miss barely qualified for the SEC Tournament, but then looked great in their regional. Things could get tougher against a Southern Miss tea that has potentially the best overall pitching staff in the nation. These should all be pretty low-scoring games, but since the over/under is set at 9.5, Vegas is already expecting that. I’m gonna side with pitching and defense here and take Southern Miss.
#14 Auburn (40-19) @ #3 Oregon State (47-16)
- Time: 10:00 P.M. ET
- Channel: ESPN2
- Best Bet: Oregon State (-155)
- WHY?: Oregon State comes in as the 2nd-ranked team in the nation by RPI; however, they struggled to close the door on Vanderbilt in the regionals. Auburn did damage at home in their regional, but that park allows for lots of offense, so they’ll find the sledding tougher against the Beavers in Corvallis. I think Oregon State ace Cooper Hjerpe will start on Saturday so that means we take the Beavers.
UCONN (49-14) @ #2 Stanford (45-15)
- Time: 10:30 P.M. ET
- Channel: ESPNU
- Best Bet: UCONN (+155)
- WHY?: Just bet this small because Stanford is still the biggest favorite on the board right now, even after surviving a scary against an up-start Texas State team in the regionals. However, Stanford only had the 133rd-ranked schedule in the country and UCONN has an elite pitching staff, so this could be a tougher test than the odds suggest. However, Stanford opened at -310 and is now down to -195, so others are on this as well.
