[Baseball] Some data going into the weekend

Florida State lost to Jacksonville and Florida Gulf Coast in the midweek. The Seminoles' RPI dropped from 7 to 14. I still think they are a national seed, but they probably need to go 3-3 against Duke and Miami to finish things up.

The three best road teams in the country - Miami, Florida and Mississippi State. Miami and Florida are locks for national seed. Mississippi State can probably lock it up this weekend on the Plains.

Florida State's fall has been taken advantage of by Ole Miss, Vanderbilt and Mississippi State - all who have moved up. State is up to 8th in the current RPI.

LSU is in the "should host" category. They need to win, and it probably wouldn't hurt if Vanderbilt dropped this weekend's series against Florida. LSU has played a much tougher schedule, so I think the Tigers get the nod if there isn't a lot of difference.

Conference USA is on the line this weekend. Rice and Southern Miss are tied for first and Florida Atlantic is a game back. USM has tiebreaker over Rice and FAU has it over USM. FAU and Rice play this weekend in Houston. If FAU wins the series, it just might open tup a host spot. The Owls, however are 3-1 against Miami and Mississippi State and a series win at Rice will improve a 31 RPI.

Texas Tech is four games up in the Big 12. They have the weekend off and play at West Virginia next week. I believe the Red Raiders have a national seed locked at this point. Oklahoma State and TCU have outside shots at hosting.

The Pac 12 is just really confusing. 9th place is just 3 games back of the lead. Washington and Utah are tied for the lead - Utah is 18-24 overall. Arizona is a half game back. Arizona State is 2 games back. Both of those teams are on fire as of late. The Pac 12 will get a host spot - and it will be the champion, unless its Utah.

The Big Ten is a mess as well. Indiana with their #97 RPI is the current leader. Both Michigan and Minnesota have respectable RPIs and are a half game back. The Big Ten champion will get a host spot, provided its Michigan or Minnesota.

UC Santa Barbara has fallen from 8th in the RPI to 24th in just 10 days. What looked like a possible national seed is on the bubble for hosting. They are three games back of Fullerton and still have to play the Titans next week.

Who could benefit from this UCSB flame out? One of the Big 12 teams for sure, but don't count out Tulane. The Greenies have a 33-14 record and a top 25 RPI. Geographically, they probably need Southern Miss or LSU to falter at the end.

Coastal Carolina looks like a host, and UNC Wilmington is another team that could sneak into a host spot. Two weeks until Hoover, my friends.