K-State baseball awarded NCAA Tournament bid

MANHATTAN, Kan. (KWCH) - An early exit from the Big 12 Tournament had the Kansas State University baseball team left to wait and hope that their body of work through the 2024 season was enough to get into the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats finished the regular season with a record of 32-24. They carried an RPI of 45 and finished sixth in the Big 12 standings, going 15-15 in the conference. The Wildcats sat squarely on the bubble heading into Monday’s selection show.

After bowing out of the Big 12 Tournament on Thursday, a long three days for the Wildcats culminated with a celebration. Kansas State was selected as the No. 3 seed in the regional hosted by the nation’s fifth-ranked team, Arkansas in the Fayetteville, Ark. Regional. K-State opens the regional at 7 p.m. Friday, May 31, against second-seeded Louisiana Tech who enters the NCAA Tournament at 45-17. Taking on top-seeded Arkansas to round out the Fayetteville Regional is fourth-seeded Southeast Missouri State.

𝐖𝐄'𝐑𝐄 𝐈𝐍!!!#KStateBSB pic.twitter.com/JygGPZpSfa
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) May 27, 2024

If K-State gets by Louisiana Tech, the Wildcats will face the winner of Arkansas-Southeast Missouri State at 8 p.m. Saturday. If the Wildcats fall to Louisiana Tech, they’ll fight to stay alive in an elimination game at 2 p.m. Saturday. The team to emerge from the Fayetteville Regional will move on to the best two-out-of-three Super Regional against the winner of the regional hosted by Virginia.

The NCAA Baseball Tournament consists of 16 regionals, each with four teams. The winners of each regional move on to the Super Regional round from which the field whittled down from 64 to 16, is further trimmed to the final group of eight that will compete in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.

Kansas State is one of six Big 12 teams to advance to the NCAA Tournament. Others include regional hosts Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, Texas, Central Florida and West Virginia.

You can see the full 2024 DI Baseball Championship bracket here: https://www.ncaa.com/brackets/baseball/d1/2024.