Who will UCF baseball play in NCAA Tournament? Meet Auburn Regional teams

[ASFN Admin]

Exceeding modest preseason expectations, picked to finish 10th in the Big 12 Conference, the UCF Knights return to the NCAA baseball tournament this week for the second time in three years.

They will embark upon their first out-of-state regional in 25 years, grouped with No. 4 national seed Auburn, North Carolina State and Milwaukee. The second-seeded Knights open with N.C. State at 6 p.m. Friday on ESPNU from Plainsman Park in Auburn, Alabama.

UCF went 31-21 this season, finishing fourth in the Big 12 with 19 conference wins. However, it exited the postseason tournament in the quarterfinal round with a 12-6 loss to surging Oklahoma State, a team it swept in Orlando back in March.

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"This group's a special group. To keep them together, to be able to practice for another week and compete — no matter where it is — obviously our group is extremely excited," UCF coach Rich Wallace said. "Watched Auburn, watched N.C. State a bunch; haven't really watched Milwaukee. But we kind of know what we're getting with two really talented, championship-level teams. We've got our work cut out for us, but I think the guys are excited for the challenge."

UCF closed the season with the No. 36 RPI, good enough to grab the No. 2 seed in Auburn.

The Knights hit .292 as a team, led by catcher Zak Skinner (.365). Outfielders Andrew Williamson and John Smith III share the team lead with 12 home runs apiece. The pitching staff withstood a number of injuries to rank 26th nationally in ERA (4.37); Camden Wicker, Mateo Gray and reliever Max Murray each notched five wins.

"I thought we did enough to be a two-seed," Wallace said. "We played the toughest schedule in program history, most conference wins since 2005 and won seven out of 10 Big 12 series. I thought, with our league as good as it has been and the two host seeds (Kansas and West Virginia), that we were in line for a two-seed."

With contributions from the writers who cover them, let's learn a little more about the Knights' potential upcoming opponents in the NCAA Tournament.

Auburn Tigers​

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• Record: 38-19 (17-13 SEC)
• NCAA Tournament history: 63-55 overall, 26th appearance
• Leading hitter: Brandon McCraine (.347). A redshirt freshman, McCraine's risen into an everyday role at shortstop, primarily placed near the bottom of the lineup. He’s led the Tigers in hitting for much of the year, often working as a hit-for-contact lineup-flipper.
• Leading pitcher: Jake Marciano (5-5, 2.65). A Virginia Tech transfer, the sophomore lefty has embodied the success of Auburn’s pitching staff with 100 strikeouts, just 17 walks allowed and an opponent batting average of .208.
• UCF's all-time record vs Auburn: 5-6
• Last meeting: 12-2 UCF win, Feb. 23, 2020
• Short hops: Auburn enters this week's regional battle-tested, playing the nation’s toughest schedule and boasting the third-best RPI … Its run in the SEC Tournament was its longest in 23 years, advancing to the semifinal round for the first time since 2003 … Under head coach Butch Thompson, Auburn's gone 14-4 in regional play and 6-2 as a regional host.

— Adam Cole, Montgomery Advertiser

N.C. State Wolfpack​

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• Record: 32-22 (14-16 ACC)
• NCAA Tournament history: 70-73, 36th appearance
• Leading hitter: Sophomore outfielder Ty Head (.294/.467/.572) has paced the Wolfpack's offense, in terms of power, this spring with a career-best 14 home runs and 49 RBIs. Although his average is down, Head has continued to walk at an extremely high rate, leading the team with 56 free passes (second-most in a single season, eight away from tying the record). In addition to the star center fielder, freshman outfielder Rett Johnson leads the team with a .392 batting average and has a 27-game hitting streak going in the leadoff spot.
• Leading pitcher: Sophomore right-hander Anderson Nance has been the team's most-consistent arm this season, serving mostly in a long-relief role. He owns a 3.78 ERA, striking out 56 batters with 24 walks across 47⅔ innings in 19 appearances. He transitioned to a starting role in the regular season finale against No. 2 North Carolina, allowing just one run on three hits with four strikeouts and five walks in a career-best six innings of work.
• UCF's all-time record vs. N.C. State: 1-0
• Last meeting: 9-2 UCF win, Feb. 11, 1993
• Short hops: N.C. State made the tournament field for the 10th time in the last 11 iterations of the event, despite dropping three of its last four ACC weekend series and suffering a 21-12 loss to Duke in the conference tournament. ... Longtime Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent announced his impending retirement last Thursday; the NCAA Tournament run will be the last set of games he coaches in his 30th season at the helm. ... N.C. State has dealt with significant injuries to its starting pitching rotation with right-hander Jacob Dudan undergoing Tommy John surgery, while lefty Ryan Marohn has missed his last six starts. The ace, however, is nearing a return and may be available in a relief role this weekend at the Auburn Regional. ... N.C. State dropped seven straight games in March, tying the longest losing streak in Avent's tenure, but bounced back to win seven of its next eight to find its footing in April. ... The Wolfpack has four active MLB players, headlined by 2019 World Series champion shortstop Trea Turner (Philadelphia Phillies) and three-time All Star lefty Carlos Rodon (New York Yankees). Cleveland Guardians catcher Patrick Bailey, a back-to-back Gold Glove winner, and Seattle Mariners infielder Will Wilson round out the program's current Major Leaguers.

— Noah Fleischman, The Wolfpacker/On3

Milwaukee Panthers​

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• Record: 25-31 (14-10 Horizon)
• NCAA Tournament history: 1-8, fifth appearance (first since 2010)
• Leading hitter: Dominic Kibler, a catcher/outfielder from Milwaukee suburb New Berlin, transferred to the program from Kent State and owns a 1.037 OPS this season, with 11 homers, a team-best 59 RBIs, a .466 on-base percentage and just 28 strikeouts in 189 at-bats. Fellow first-team All-Conference pick, outfielder Charlie Marion (.967 OPS, 12 homers, 54 RBIs, 16 doubles), isn't far behind.
• Leading pitcher: Right-hander Gavin Theis, a graduate of nearby Lake Country Lutheran High School, has a 4.91 ERA this year but was still named first-team All-Conference, and he was excellent last year as the league's Pitcher of the Year when he went 9-1 with a 4.38 ERA. Right-hander Camden Kuhnke (3.38 ERA) was named the Horizon's Reliever of the Year this season.
• UCF's all-time record vs. Milwaukee: 2-0
• Last meeting: 5-2 UCF win, March 13, 1990
• Short hops: UW-Milwaukee clinched a tournament berth with a walk-off homer by No. 9 hitter Joey Spence against Wright State in the Horizon League tournament — on a swing that coach Shaun Wegner believes made contact with the catcher's mitt, to boot. ... Wegner is only the program's third head coach since the mid-90s, in the footsteps of former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jerry Augustine (1995-2006) and Scott Doffek (2007-23). Wegner was a player on the 2010 team, the last UWM squad to reach the NCAA Tournament. ... It's the only Division I baseball program in the state of Wisconsin; the University of Wisconsin has not had baseball since 1991 ... The program boasts only two alumni to reach Major League Baseball, and both are current players: Daulton Varsho of the Toronto Blue Jays and AJ Blubaugh of the Houston Astros. ... The Panthers had an eight-game losing streak early in the year and began the season at 2-14, but they finished with a seven-game winning streak and separate eight-game winning streak (and 10 of 11) in April.

— JR Radcliffe, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel

This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: UCF baseball: Meet teams for NCAA Tournament Auburn Regional

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