College baseball predictions: Picking the winner for every regional in 2025

The road to the College World Series begins this weekend as all 64 teams who made the NCAA Tournament begin regional play.

Tennessee is back to defend its CWS title from last year, but it will face stiff competition from No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt as well as a slew of other highly-motivated teams from the SEC and other conferences.

College baseball NCAA Tournament predictions

With regional play set to start on Friday, here’s a prediction for all 16 regionals in the 2025 NCAA Tournament:

Note: All betting odds are via bet365.

Nashville Regional

Teams: No. 1 Vanderbilt, Louisville, ETSU, Wright St.

Vanderbilt was absolutely dominant during the SEC Tournament, particularly on the mound. The Commodores played 3 games in Hoover and held their opponents to a whopping 3 runs. You don’t need a calculator to know that’s an ERA of 1. Considering the level of competition, that’s remarkable. Vandy is No. 1 on Warren Nolan’s ELO rankings and no one else in this regional is in the top 35. This is a relatively easy pick and I think the price is more than fair.

Pick: Vanderbilt -300

Hattiesburg Regional

Teams: No. 16 Southern Miss, Alabama, Miami (FL), Columbia

Southern Miss earned a hosting gig despite a pretty lackluster résumé against power-conference teams this season. The Golden Eagles even dropped a mid-week game to Alabama earlier this year. JB Middleton was Southern Miss’s best pitcher this year, but he threw a whopping 4 innings against power-conference teams in 2025. I think this is a spot where we could see an upset. 

Pick: Alabama +160

Tallahassee Regional

Teams: No. 9 Florida St., Mississippi St., Northeastern, Bethune-Cookman

Florida State appears to be over-seeded relative to its ELO ranking of No. 17. Mississippi State is not far behind at No. 21. And then there’s Northeastern, who is somehow all the way up at No. 4 in the country per ELO. That’s remarkable for a CAA program. I’m not really a buyer at this stage, however. Per ELO, Northeastern only played 3 Quad 1 games all season and went 5-5 in Quad 2 games. There’s just not enough of a résumé there in my opinion. Led by Jamie Arnold, I like FSU to come out of this Regional. 

Pick: Florida State -140

Corvallis Regional

Teams: No. 8 Oregon St., TCU, Southern California, Saint Mary’s (CA)

This is another spot where I see an upset looming. Oregon State went 5-9 in Quad 1 games (per ELO) this season and is probably a bit over-seeded at No. 8. TCU has an awesome lineup headlined by 6 hitters who are batting over .300 this year. There’s also ace Tommy LaPour, who owns a 2.89 ERA this season.

Pick: TCU +150

Chapel Hill Regional

Teams: No. 5 North Carolina, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Holy Cross

North Carolina probably feels a bit disrespected to land the No. 5 overall seed. The Tar Heels are No. 2 in ELO and just finished off a dominant ACC Tournament performance over the weekend. But there’s a bright side for UNC: This is not a tremendously strong regional. Oklahoma has little pitching beyond Kyson Witherspoon and Nebraska was under .500 against the top 2 quads this season. Neither is in the top 30 in ELO entering the Regional round. 

Pick: North Carolina -400

Eugene Regional

Teams: No. 12 Oregon, Arizona, Cal Poly, Utah Valley

I feel really good about Oregon going into the NCAA Tournament. The Ducks were awesome against elite competition this year and have lost a whopping 4 games by more than 1 run since the beginning of April. Arizona was also really good against quality competition this year, but the profile just isn’t as impressive as Oregon’s. The Ducks are top-20 nationally in both slugging percentage and ERA. 

Pick: Oregon -200

Conway Regional

Teams: No. 13 Coastal Carolina, Florida, East Carolina, Fairfield

Coastal Carolina is under-seeded per ELO, as the Chanticleers clock in at No. 3 nationally by that metric. Coastal did play quite a few games against elite competition this year in nonconference play, so I’m less worried about them compared to a program like Northeastern. They took North Carolina to 11 innings back in March and have beaten Clemson twice this season in mid-week contests. Florida will be a tough out — the Gators are 9th in ELO and are actually favored in the betting markets to win this regional. I think both of these teams are really good and could have met in a Super Regional if the bracket broke a different way. In the end, I think Florida’s arms will overpower Coastal’s bats. 

Pick: Florida -110

Auburn Regional

Teams: No. 4 Auburn, NC State, Stetson, Central Conn. St.

On paper, this looks like a great draw for Auburn. No other team in this Regional ranks in the top-30 in ELO. The Tigers are stumbling a bit into the postseason after losing a series to Ole Miss at the end of the regular season before falling in its first SEC Tournament game to Texas A&M. Still, I think Auburn has the edge here and will prevail. 

Pick: Auburn -250

Austin Regional

Teams: No. 2 Texas, UTSA, Kansas St., Houston Christian

Texas has been one of the best teams in the country this season and won the SEC regular season title by multiple games. The Longhorns did face a relatively weak nonconference schedule, but they went 18-9 in Quad 1 games per ELO. UTSA is definitely the biggest threat to Texas in this region, but Texas looks like the clear favorite here. 

Pick: Texas -300

Los Angeles Regional

Teams: No. 15 UCLA, Arizona St., UC Irvine, Fresno St.

UCLA is perhaps the most over-seeded team in the field based on ELO. The Bruins are all the way down at No. 32 but will be hosting a regional this weekend. They went just 2-8 against Quad 1 opposition this season, but did make a run to the Big Ten Tournament title game last weekend. ELO suggests UC Irvine is the biggest upset contender in this region. I’m not sure I’m a believer in that idea — Irvine is outside the top-60 in both ERA and slugging percentage despite facing a relatively-poor strength-of-schedule. 

Pick: UCLA -125

Oxford Regional

Teams: No. 10 Ole Miss, Georgia Tech, Western Kentucky, Murray St.

Ole Miss, Georgia Tech and Western Kentucky are all top-25 by ELO, so this should be a very competitive regional. WKU’s calling card is on the mound as the Hilltoppers are 3rd nationally in ERA entering the NCAA Tournament. However, they played an extremely weak schedule this season. I think the Yellow Jackets are more of a threat to pull off the upset here, but I’ll stick with the hosts. 

Pick: Ole Miss +110

Athens Regional 

Teams: No. 7 Georgia, Duke, Oklahoma St., Binghamton

This is a difficult regional to handicap as Georgia has lost 4 of its last 6 games entering the tournament. Oklahoma State and Duke are certainly live here, particularly the Blue Devils. UGA famously has a hitter-friendly park and Duke finished top-15 nationally in home runs this season. I’m less interested in an OK State team that seems reliant on its pitching staff (top-25 in ERA, 105th in slugging percentage). Georgia is a -350 favorite and I think that juice is too heavy for me — I’ll take Duke.

Pick: Duke +350

Baton Rouge Regional

Teams: No. 6 LSU, Dallas Baptist, Rhode Island, Little Rock

LSU is the overwhelming favorite here, although Dallas Baptist shouldn’t be overlooked. LSU enters the tournament 7th nationally in ERA. They’re in the top-25 in slugging percentage, too. DBU would probably be more believable as a serious threat in this region if it hadn’t lost twice to Jacksonville State last week at the Conference USA Tournament. 

Pick: LSU -400

Clemson Regional

Teams: No. 11 Clemson, Kentucky, West Virginia, USC Upstate

Clemson reached the ACC Tournament title game, but there were some signs of concerns about the Tigers over the last month or so. Their pitching proved to be a real issue in series losses to Florida State and Duke this month. Fortunately for the Tigers, neither Kentucky nor West Virginia possesses an elite offense. I think Clemson has enough to get through this regional. 

Pick: Clemson +100

Knoxville Regional

Teams: No. 14 Tennessee, Wake Forest, Cincinnati, Miami (OH)

Tennessee is the defending champion, but the Wake Forest pitching factory is certainly lurking here as a real threat to pull off the upset. Wake’s offense is actually better than its pitching staff this year as the Demon Deacons enter the tournament ranked 13th nationally in slugging percentage. If Tennessee throws Liam Doyle in Game 1, I would feel good about Wake’s chances to pull off the upset in the next game. I think I’m getting a pretty good price on Wake here, so I’ll go with the Demon Deacons. 

Pick: Wake Forest +350

Fayetteville Regional

Teams: No. 3 Arkansas, Kansas, Creighton, North Dakota St.

Arkansas is really good both offensively and on the mound. The Hogs are 5th nationally in ELO and have a tremendous statistical profile across the board. Kansas and Creighton are both top-25 teams by ELO, so this won’t be easy, but it’s difficult to envision Arkansas losing at home in this regional. 

Pick: Arkansas -700