Unsurprisingly, the road to Omaha goes through Aggieland.
After an impressive regular season, Texas A&M has been selected as the third national seed, the highest in program history, into the 2024 NCAA Tournament. By virtue of being a top-eight club, the Aggies will have the advantage of playing at home during the first two weekends of the tournament.
In addition to A&M, Bryan-College Station’s 2024 regional field includes Louisiana, Texas and Grambling State.
The four-team double-elimination format begins Friday afternoon.
The Aggies will face Grambling State in a first-round game at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.
This weekend will be the 13th regional played at Olsen Field since the stadium was built in 1978.
As the No. 4 seed in Aggieland, Grambling State brings a 26-26 overall record to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers finished 18-8 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference and finished second in the SWAC West before going 5-1 in last weekend’s conference tournament to capture the league’s automatic bid.
Also heading to the Brazos Valley are Louisiana and Texas, as No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, respectively.
The Ragin’ Cajuns and Longhorns will play each other on Friday night.
No stranger to Aggieland, the Sun Belt regular-season champion Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns were the third seed in the 2022 College Station Regional, but in 2024, Matt Deggs & Co. enters the NCAA Tournament with a overall record of 40-18 and a conference mark of 23-7. With the No. 38 RPI in the country, Louisiana went 0-3 against Power 5 opponents in 2024, losing to Vanderbilt, LSU and Houston in the Astros Foundation College Classic in March.
The Aggies and Ragin’ Cajuns have met 23 times, and A&M holds a 14-9 lead in the series. The last matchup was a winner’s bracket ball game in the 2022 College Station Regional, which the Aggies won 9-6.
It’s also no surprise that the NCAA selection committee paired Texas with A&M as David Pierce and the Longhorns arrive at Bryan-College Station with a 35-22 record. Texas went 20-10 in Big 12 play to finish third before quickly going 0-2 in the conference tournament in Arlington. Additionally, the Aggies and Longhorns met earlier this year in Austin, and the Fightin’ Farmers left UFCU Disch-Falk Field with a 9-2 victory on March 5.
In their final year as non-conference opponents, this will be the third time A&M and Texas will match up in the same region. The rivals met in the 2014 Houston Regional at Reckling Park and again in the 2018 Austin Regional. They also met in the 2022 Men’s College World Series, with A&M defeating the Horns in an Omaha elimination game, 10-2.
The 2024 Bryan-College Station Regional is paired with the Santa Barbara Regional, which includes UCSB, San Diego, Oregon and Fresno State.
The winners of Aggieland and Santa Barbara will meet next weekend in a best-of-three super regional for a berth to the 2024 Men’s College World Series in Omaha.
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