Tucson Regional loaded with talent and experience as WVU heads out west

This region is headlined by No. 13 overall seed Arizona, as well as Dallas Baptist as the No. 2 seed, and Grand Canyon as the No. 4 seed. The other three schools have a level of familiarity with each other, while the Mountaineers are the outlier going east to west this weekend.

Off the bat, this region figures to be one of the most competitive of the 16, with four teams that all have recent NCAA Tournament experience.

Three of the four teams made the NCAA Tournament last season (Arizona, DBU, WVU), while Grand Canyon is making its third appearance in the last four NCAA Tournaments.

Arizona at home has been really good in the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats are 10-1 in home NCAA Tournament games, and the last time they hosted in 2021, they advanced all the way to the College World Series.

Dallas Baptist is no stranger to the NCAA Tournament either, making a Super Regional in 2021, while they have made 10 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.

Grand Canyon has now made the NCAA Tournament in three of the past four years and was sent to the Tucson Regional in 2021, falling to Arizona, 12-6 in the first game.

West Virginia has the least amount of experience out of all four teams. WVU is making their first back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances since 1964, and it's the Mountaineers' fourth tournament appearance since 2017.

Arizona

Arizona earned a national seed and rightfully so. The Wildcats won the Pac-12 Tournament and went 36-21 on the season with the best non-conference strength of schedule in the country. Arizona played both DBU and GCU this season, while they lost 4-3 to Dallas Baptist and lost two of three games to Grand Canyon, including a 24-8 loss on Apr. 30 at home. Arizona is 19-7 in home games this season and has also faced Big 12 foe TCU, falling 6-1.

The Wildcats are really good at throwing strikes and on the mound in general. They are first in the country in walks per nine innings, allowing only 2.5 free passes. They are also 19th in the country in team ERA. Since the start of May, Arizona has allowed 73 runs in 14 games and if you take out a lopsided 16-1 loss to Oregon State, the Wildcats' pitching is allowing 4.4 runs per game in that stretch, which would be in the top-10 in the country this season.

The Wildcats were 3-9 this season in Quad 1 games per RPI, and finished with an RPI of 31 in large part due to the Pac-12 being sixth out of all conferences in RPI.

Arizona is led offensively by three everyday starters who are hitting at least .300, while those three all lead the team in RBIs as well. Arizona had six selections to the Pac-12 All-Conference team, including two of their top pitchers in Cam Walty and Clark Candiotti.

Dallas Baptist

If there was ever a No. 2 seed in a regional that wanted to surprise a lot of people it would be Dallas Baptist. However, after their run of success over the past decade, they are now a perennial contender, and no longer a team that can catch anyone by surprise.

The Patriots finished 2023 at 44-13, going 17-7 in Conference-USA, and finished the season 9-1 in their final 10 games. DBU's RPI was at No. 17 in the country, and they had a lot of success against the top of the Big 12.

DBU went a combined 4-0 against Oklahoma and Oklahoma State, the two teams who finished first and second at the top of the Big 12 standings, and the final two teams in the Big 12 Tournament. They also gave a win against Baylor, but two losses to TCU, finishing the regular season 5-2 against Big 12 teams.

DBU also faced off against Western Kentucky four times this season, dropping two of three against them in the regular season, and then beating WKU in the C-USA Tournament. WVU split a four-game series against WKU on the road in early March.

DBU is 6-1 in neutral site games this season, and they are led by their strong pitching staff, headlined with Ryan Johnson. Johnson is one of the best pitchers in the country, throwing a fastball, slider, cutter mix, with the fastball being able to get into the mid-to-upper-90's.

Johnson is second in the country with a 1.98 ERA, third in the country in strikeouts, and fourth in walks allowed per nine innings.

While Johnson shines on the mound, it's not just him who gets the job done. As a staff, DBU ranks 8th in team ERA, 8th in hits allowed per nine innings, and are 35th in walks per game. The Patriots are highly successful at the plate as well, as they rank 15th in the country in home runs hit, 31st in hits, and 47th in steals.

Grand Canyon

Last but certainly not least is the No. 4 seed Grand Canyon.

As mentioned earlier, GCU has already beaten Arizona this season, and they also have wins against WVU's common opponents Ohio State and BYU, beating the Buckeyes 10-3 and splitting two games with the Cougars.

GCU won the regular season Western Athletic Conference title, but lost to Tarleton State in the WAC Championship. But because of Tarleton State still being in the transitionary period from Division II to Division I, GCU was given the automatic bid from the WAC.

GCU has 11 players who have at least 80 at-bats this season, and eight of them are hitting .308 or higher. GCU led the WAC in batting average and in team ERA, as Issac Lyon paces the team with 10 games started and a 3.70 ERA.

GCU has only played four Quad 1 RPI games this season, finishing with a 37-21 overall record, and 1-3 in Quad 1 games. GCU features wins over No. 1 overall seed Tennessee, two wins against Ohio State, and a win against Baylor.