2017 Stanford Regional: Team Previews and Prediction

By: Ben Fadden
The NCAA Division 1 Committee announced on Monday that The Stanford Cardinal would be hosting a regional for the first round of this year’s tournament. The four teams are The Stanford Cardinal, Cal State Fullerton, Brigham Young (BYU), and Sacramento State. The regional will start on Thursday June, 1 and end on June 5. Since BYU does not play on Sunday’s, the regional will start on Thursday and end on Saturday/Monday.       

The Stanford Cardinal is the #1 seed. On the year, Stanford had a record of 40-14 with a 21-9 record during Pac-12 play. They will enter the regionals with 21 wins in their last 23 games. Stanford’s 40 win season was the most wins they have had since 2004. Stanford finished second in the Pac-12 this year behind Oregon State who is the #1 national seed. Stanford last played in the postseason in 2014 when they made it past their regional and went on to lose to Vanderbilt in three games. The player to watch for Stanford is Matt Winaker. He is hitting .381 right now. This year means a lot to Stanford because longtime head coach, Mark Marquess, is retiring after the postseason. So, Stanford will want to at least win this regional at home for him and make a good run in the postseason. Their first game is against the #4 seed, Sacramento State, at 6 p.m. on ESPN 3.       

The #2 seed in the Stanford regional is very known around college baseball. Cal State Fullerton (CSUF), has now made 26 straight postseason appearances which is the third longest streak in the NCAA. Fullerton has made 39 tournament appearances overall. They are currently ranked #17 nationally going into the regional. This will be the third time Fullerton will play at the Stanford regional. The Titans have 21 regional titles (11 on the road). Fullerton’s all-time NCAA record is 152-83. The player to watch for Cal State Fullerton is Scott Hurst. He has a batting average of .339. Cal State Fullerton will have their first game of the NCAA tournament on Thursday against Brigham-Young University (BYU) starting at 1 p.m. on ESPN 3.       

The #3 seed in the Stanford Regional is Brigham Young University, known as the BYU Cougars. The Cougars are 37-19 on the year. They won the WCC conference championship last weekend making their winning streak to 4. BYU’s 12^th selection to the NCAA regional since 1979. They have had two appearances to the College World Series, once in 1968 and again in 1971. The player to watch for BYU is Brock Hale. He has a .399 batting average going into the postseason and is hoping to continue is hot hitting. BYU’s first game is against Cal State Fullerton on Thursday June, 1 at 1 p.m. on ESPN 3.      

The #4 seed in the Stanford regional is Sacramento State University. They got an automatic bid to the tournament by winning the WAC conference championship. They are entering the regional with a record of 32-27 on the season. They currently have an 8-game winning streak. Sacramento State went 4-0 in the Conference Championship last weekend. This is the 2^nd ever appearance in the NCAA tournament, getting to two Division 2 College World Series titles (1986 and 1988). They are 13-19 all time against The Cardinal, last playing them in 2009. They’ve played BYU once before in 2008 which was a 16-2 win. Sacramento State is 6-16 when playing Cal State Fullerton. The player to watch for Sacramento State is Ian Dawkins, who has a .341 batting average. The first game for Sacramento State is on Thursday June, 1 against the #1 seed Stanford at 6 p.m. on ESPN 3.       

This will be an interesting and entertaining regional that will be worth it to watch it. Again, the first games of the series is on Thursday June, 1 at 1 p.m. with #2 seed, Cal State Fullerton playing #3 seed BYU. Then, the nightcap is the #1 seed, Stanford going up against the #4 seed, Sacramento State. Both of these games will be on ESPN 3.