What Jacksonville State baseball said about NCAA Tournament seed
· Yahoo Sports
HATTIESBURG, Miss. — Jacksonville State baseball coach Steve Bieser came into the NCAA Tournament thinking they should have been seeded higher.
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On Friday, May 29, the Gamecocks (47-13) made that case with a 15-7 thrashing of Virginia to open the Hattiesburg Regional. After the win, Bieser admitted he thought that the Gamecocks resume was deserving of that of a two-seed.
"For me, I believe that we are a 2-seed. If you look at all the metrics and the season that we had, we had four games on our schedule that probably hurt us pretty bad with strength of schedule. I understand that, and I take ownership of that but you win those games," Bieser said.
The Gamecocks came into the tournament with 46 victories, tied for third-best in the tournament. They held an RPI of 25, higher than Virginia. Jax State won the Conference USA regular-season and tournament titles.
Even though the Gamecocks thought they should have been seeded higher, Bieser doesn't think that's what led to his teams offensive showcase on Friday.
"I think as far as chip on our shoulder, like I told the guys, it doesn't matter. The 2 (seed) playing the 3 (seed), the only disadvantage is you're the visiting team," Bieser said. "We didn't want to make a big deal of that. We don't need a whole lot of motivation from the outside. We know nobody from the get-go expected Jax State to be sitting here, but this group knew that."
The Gamecocks will now face 4-seed Little Rock, which upset Southern Miss in the first round. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. CT on Saturday.
Maxwell Donaldson covers high school sports, Jax State athletics, the outdoors in Alabama and more for the Gadsden Times and USA TODAY Network. Find him on Twitter/X @_Max_Donaldson and contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on The Gadsden Times: Did Jax State use NCAA Tournament seed as motivation in Hattiesburg Regional win