MSU, Michigan left out of NCAA baseball tourney field

Michigan State’s road to Omaha ironically ended in Omaha.

The Spartans got ousted from the Big Ten Tournament on Sunday and were left out of the NCAA tournament’s 64-team field Monday.

That ends MSU’s season with a 36-20 record, following a 13-11 conference season in which they finished seventh in the Big Ten. The Spartans won their first two games at the Big Ten Tournament in Omaha last week before losing twice to Ohio State and being eliminated two wins short of winning the league’s automatic NCAA berth.

Both d1baseball.com and warrennolan.com had MSU at 77th in their final RPI projections. The Spartans overall schedule strength was ranked 142nd by warrennolan.com and 164th by d1baseball.com.

Where MSU suffered was with a weak schedule outside the Big Ten. Despite going 18-3 to begin the season and 20-7 overall in nonleague games, the Spartans’ nonconference strength of schedule was ranked 262nd out of 300 teams per d1baseball.com.

Michigan (36-21) also was left out of the NCAA field despite finishing with 38th in RPI according to both sites’ projections. The Big Ten got three teams into the field: postseason champ Ohio State with the automatic berth and regular-season champion Minnesota and Nebraska as at-large selections.

The only team in the state to make the tournament was Western Michigan (22-32). The Broncos shocked Kent State to win the Mid-American Conference postseason tournament and automatic bid. They will be a No. 4 seed and face regional host Louisville on Friday. The Buckeyes are the 2-seed in that regional.

MSU last made the NCAAs in 2012. The Spartans graduate just three seniors from this year’s team, but top pitcher Cam Vieaux is among the players who could be selected in the MLB First-Year Player Draft.