Looking at the teams that reached the NCAA baseball tournament, the win totals all look largely the same. Teams like Wake Forest and Florida enter with at least 40 wins this season. Others like Stanford and South Carolina reached the 30s.
Then there's Tulane. The Green Wave don't have a shiny record. They don't have win totals in the 40s. Or the 30s. Or even the 20s. They have the inverse record of two regional hosts, Alabama and Miami, who enter the field with a 40-19 record.
That's right. Tulane is sitting at 19-40 as tournament play begins. Tulane is the clear green sheep of the 2023 tournament field. Its reward for reaching the tournament will be to play in the Baton Rouge regional as the No. 4 seed, starting with a matchup against national No. 5 LSU, which boasts the top two 2023 MLB Draft prospects and posted a stellar 43-15 regular-season record.
Tulane's inclusion in the tournament might be surprising to some who are just tuning in to college baseball when the regionals begin. It's not often a team with a losing record reaches the postseason, let alone a team that had more than twice as many losses as wins.
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How did Tulane reach the field? Here's what you need to know.
How Tulane made the 2023 NCAA baseball tournament
The Green Wave began the season losing 10 of their first 11 games. They ended the regular season losing six of their past seven contests, and sat at a 15-39 record. How on earth did this team reach the NCAA tournament?
Well, sometimes it pays to get hot at the right time. And there's no better time than the conference tournament. Tulane started the American Athletic Conference tournament having just reached as the No. 7 seed with its 8-16 conference record being one game better than South Florida's 7-17 mark.
The Green Wave proceeded to beat No. 2 seed Houston in the first game and No. 6 Memphis in the second before falling to Houston in the first semifinal game. With the tournament being double-elimination, Tulane had another shot and made the most of it, beating Houston in the rematch to face No. 1 East Carolina, a team that will head to the Charlottesville regional as a No. 2 seed.
Tulane stunned the Pirates with an 8-6 win in the final to win the conference tourney, claiming an automatic bid to the NCAA field. As a No. 7 seed, Tulane was the lowest to ever win the AAC tournament.
Taking care of business#RollWave 🌊⚾️ pic.twitter.com/GUO8ACYnul
— Tulane Baseball (@GreenWaveBSB) May 29, 2023
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Fewest wins to make NCAA baseball tournament
Tulane wasn't just the lowest seed to win the AAC tournament. It set a record for the most losses to reach the NCAA tournament.
The Green Wave surfs into the tournament having lost 40 games during the year. That just edges out the 2011 New Mexico Lobos, who lost 39 games during the season.
The Lobos came into the Mountain West tournament having lost seven straight games. But like the Green Wave, they got hot at the right time. New Mexico proceeded to win four straight games in the tournament, beating BYU, TCU, Utah and then TCU in the conference tournament final to sweep through and punch an automatic ticket to the NCAA baseball tournament.
The Cinderella run came to a swift end, however. In the Tempe regional, No. 10 Arizona State beat New Mexico 4-2, followed by No. 19 Arkansas knocking out the Lobos in a 3-0 final.
We'll see if Tulane can keep its hot streak going for a little longer.