Ranked a respectable 98th in the NCAA RPI ratings and having won four games in the last 10 years in the regionals — along with a slew of tight losses — the Raiders aren’t just looking to be competitive. Participation trophies aren’t their thing.
“We’re going there to win. That’s the goal,” seventh-year coach Alex Sogard said.
“There’s a lot of programs that maybe haven’t had the success we’ve had, and they’re just happy to be there. And obviously, we’re going to enjoy it. … But the expectation is to win.”
The Raiders (38-19) are making their 12th NCAA trip and will play No. 1 overall seed Vanderbilt (42-16) in Nashville at 6 p.m. Friday (SEC Network).
The SEC has won the last five national titles with the Commodores winning in 2019 and ’14.
Louisville (35-21), ending a two-year NCAA drought, is the 2 seed in the regional, while East Tennessee State (41-15), making its first appearance in 12 years, is the 3 seed. They’ll meet at 2 p.m. Friday.
Though the Raiders have never advanced to the Super Regionals, they went 2-2 in 2015 and ’16.
They’ve gone 0-2 in each of their four regional trips since then, but they exchanged haymakers with some of the sport’s perennial winners.
They lost to second-ranked Stanford, 4-3, in 13 innings in 2018.
In their two most recent appearances, they fell to No. 12 Gonzaga, 11-9, in 2022 and No. 14 Indiana St, 6-5, in 2023.
But the program’s most intestine-twisting loss of them all came in 2021 at No. 3 Tennessee.
The Raiders took an 8-5 lead into the ninth against the host Vols and lost, 9-8, on a walk-off grand slam.
But Sogard believes his squad is better equipped than ever to advance.
“We’ve got good enough arms. We can hit. In baseball, you never know. You show up — like we did the last couple days (of the Horizon League tourney), and I feel we can play with anybody in the country,” he said.
“We have the pitching depth we haven’t had. You look at the Tennessee game — the one everyone still talks about — and I vividly remember we had some good arms that year, but we didn’t have the depth.”
In the HL tourney, with the title and NCAA bid at stake, Sogard turned to reliever J.J. Thompson — a freshman who joined the program last fall as an outfielder.
The lefty pitched flawlessly, getting out of a jam he inherited, giving up just one hit over 3.2 innings and whiffing five.
He ended up on the bottom of a dogpile in the player celebration after throwing the last strike.
But as Sogard pointed out, they had arms in reserve if Thompson had faltered: “We had a second-team (all-league) reliever, Max Whitesell, who didn’t throw all weekend. And Warren Hartzell, who was runner-up for reliever of the year, didn’t even pitch.”
The Raiders, who went 0-6 against SEC teams this season, faced second-ranked Vandy twice in 2021, falling 14-1 and 1-0.
They beat top-ranked Louisville, 10-3, in the pandemic-shortened 2021 season.
“I would always bet on our guys,” Sogard said. “I’ll bet on our guys against any team in the country.”
VANDERBILT (No. 1 in RPI): The SEC tourney champs started 11-9, and they had only one player among the all-conference first and second teams. But their pitching has been dominant. They gave up just three runs in three league tourney games and are ninth nationally with a 3.76 ERA. They’re also first in strikeouts per nine innings at 11.9.
LOUISVILLE (No. 32): The Cardinals lost in the first round of the ACC tourney to Pitt, 13-11. But they advanced to the Super Regionals in 2022. Their offense has carried them. They’re 33rd in the nation in batting at .306, 39th in runs per game at 8.2 and ninth in stolen bases with 146 in 163 attempts.
EAST TENNSESEE STATE (No. 36): The Buccaneers won two of three games against Pitt this year and knocked off then-No. 1 Tennessee, 7-6, in 10 innings in Knoxville. The Southern Conference champs are third in the country in homers per game at 2.1 and 14th in runs at 8.8.
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