2024 NCAA baseball tournament: Bracket, schedule, format and more for College World Series
Starting Friday, 64 schools across the country will compete for the Men's College World Series title. The month-long tournament wraps up in Omaha, Neb. with a best-of-three series to crown the 2024 champion.
Though the bracket looks similar to the NCAA men's college basketball tournament millions of people enjoy every March and April, there are some key differences. Here's everything you need to know ahead of the first pitches on Friday afternoon:
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2024 NCAA baseball tournament format
Regionals: The NCAA baseball tournament begins with this double-elimination group stage. Double-elimination means that a team must lose twice to be eliminated from the tournament. The 64-team field is split into 16 groups of four teams seeded Nos. 1-4. Here's how the game schedule goes:
Game 1: No. 3 vs. No. 2
Game 2: No. 1 vs. No. 4
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner
Game 7 (if necessary): Rematch of Game 6 to determine regional winner if two teams have one loss
Super regionals: The 16 regional-winning teams are then split into eight best-of-three series.
Men's College World Series: The eight remaining teams are split into two double-elimination brackets. The winners of each bracket meet for a best-of-three series to crown the NCAA champion in Omaha.
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2024 NCAA baseball tournament key dates
Regionals: May 31-June 1
Super Regionals: June 6-8 or June 7-9
Men's College World Series: Begins June 14
Men's College World Series finals: June 22-24
2024 NCAA baseball tournament host sites and top seeds
The top seeds are the hosts for each regional. The SEC and ACC lead the way in 2024 with five regional hosts from each conference. Here are the regional locations and their host teams:
Knoxville Regional: Tennessee
Lexington Regional: Kentucky
Bryan-College Station Regional: Texas A&M
Chapel Hill Regional: North Carolina
Fayetteville Regional: Arkansas
Clemson Regional: Clemson
Athens Regional: Georgia
Tallahassee Regional: Florida State
Norman Regional: Oklahoma
Raleigh Regional: NC State
Stillwater Regional: Oklahoma State
Charlottesville Regional: Virginia
Tucson Regional: Arizona
Santa Barbara: UC-Santa Barbara
Corvallis Regional: Oregon State
Greenville Regional: East Carolina
2024 NCAA baseball tournament: National seeds
These are the top eight national seeds. If they win their respective regionals, they will be the host site for the super regional games.
Tennessee
Kentucky
Texas A&M
North Carolina
Arkansas
Clemson
Georgia
Florida State
If any of these top eight teams lose their regional, organizers will announce a new location for the super regional round.
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2024 NCAA baseball tournament regional seeds
Knoxville Regional
Tennessee
Southern Mississippi
Indiana
Northern Kentucky
Lexington Regional
Kentucky
Indiana State
Illinois
Western Michigan
Bryan-College Station Regional
Texas A&M
Louisiana
Texas
Grambling
Chapel Hill Regional
North Carolina
LSU
Wofford
Long Island
Fayetteville Regional
Arkansas
Louisiana Tech
Kansas State
Southeast Missouri State
Clemson Regional
Clemson
Vanderbilt
Coastal Carolina
High Point
Athens Regional
Georgia
UNC-Wilmington
Georgia Tech
Army
Tallahassee Regional
Florida State
Alabama
Central Florida
Stetson
Norman Regional
Oklahoma
Duke
UConn
Oral Roberts
Raleigh Regional
NC State
South Carolina
James Madison
Bryant
Stillwater Regional
Oklahoma State
Nebraska
Florida
Niagara
Charlottesville Regional
Virginia
Mississippi State
St. John's
Penn
Tucson Regional
Arizona
Dallas Baptist
West Virginia
Grand Canyon
Santa Barbara Regional
UC-Santa Barbara
San Diego
Oregon
Fresno State
Corvallis Regional
Oregon State
UC-Irvine
Nicholls
Tulane
Greenville Regional
East Carolina
Wake Forest
VCU
Evansville
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 2024 NCAA baseball tournament bracket, regional games and more for CWS