Three states immediately come to mind: Louisiana (LSU, Tulane, ULaLa, and LaTech); Mississippi (Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss); and South Carolina (SouthCarolina, Clemson, and Coastal Carolina). Who am I forgetting?
Three states immediately come to mind: Louisiana (LSU, Tulane, ULaLa, and LaTech); Mississippi (Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss); and South Carolina (SouthCarolina, Clemson, and Coastal Carolina). Who am I forgetting?
I guess it depends what you mean by top tier but since 2019, two states have had two different national champions (ole miss & miss st, vandy and tenn). Going back a few more years there’s also South Carolina and coastal
Valid question. I would say top tier is teams that usually make the NCAA Tournament and have been to Omaha 2 or more times every ten years.
By that criteria, Texas would fall into that. TCU, Texas Tech, Texas, Texas A&M.
Edit: I missed the per capita qualifier
You also can throw in many good college teams in Texas than just the big schools (Dallas Baptist, Texas State, Lamar, etc). It is essentially the warm weather states that can play year round (Texas, California, Florida).
Rice as well
My beloved Owls have been a bit irrelevant over the past 7-8 years. Hopefully Pierce can turn that around.
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I'll post the rest later, but Arkansas has the highest number of appearances per million (1.61) while Washington has the fewest (of CWS states) at 0.12
As an SF Giants fan I want to say I’m sorry we took your coach, but I’m excited as hell to have him lead the Giants.
As a Florida fan who lives in the Bay Area, I'm very happy the Giants made that move.
As a braves fan….FUCK we had him then cheaped out
There was a time when California was stacked. San Diego state, cal state Fullerton, UC irvine, UC Santa Barbara, USC, ucla, Fresno state, Stanford and cal.
AND Pepperdine and Long Beach State
Thanks for the assist. California has so many programs with strong histories, I overlooked two of them. Shows just how stacked the golden state is
Back before the SEC started raiding all the talent from the west coast
The passion for baseball in Mississippi is on a different level
Is baseball the most popular sport in the state?
It’s still football but baseball is definitely a clear second. The state has perfect weather for it, a ton of elite high school and JUCO programs to funnel into OM, MSU, and USM, and so many kids grow up playing baseball at least for some portion of their childhood. Both OM and State always average in the top 5, if not top 3, for attendance each season.
Very cool.
I think the popularity of college baseball in Mississippi has a lot to do with the proximity of professional baseball teams. There’s not a single state that MS is contiguous with that has a professional baseball team whereas you have the Saints and Titans for football.
But I feel like it definitely is still Braves country for those that do watch the MLB.
Lot of cardinals fans
This makes sense.
Not even close. It’s still football by a landslide. But by relative popularity compared to other states, Mississippi is definitely at the top.
I’m sure it happens regularly, but I specifically remember Kendall Rogers pointing out one week in like 2021 or 2022 that Mississippi had higher combined attendance at 3 home games than Texas schools had at 12. And that includes both Texas and A&M, not just the small schools.
For having three consistently top 25 programs, recent natties, annual regional/supers hosts, and less than three million people— definitely Mississippi.
Yeah, if we’re talking per capita - it really isn’t close. MS is more sparsely populated than people realize. A lotta of bang for your proverbial buck in college baseball here
Holy cow, Mississippi’a population is tiny. That’s not even half the population of DFW.
Our biggest city is Jackson with a population of a whopping 150k 😁
Holy cow, Lubbock would be the biggest city in Mississippi by a wide margin.
Is it just super ruralized, where everyone lives outside the metro areas, or is Mississippi basically just empty?
Both lol it’s a state that makes its money from agriculture so everyone is very spread out or living in small towns - the Coast, Jackson, and Desoto County are exceptions
Both!
Hattiesburg, the home of Southern Miss, is the 5th largest city in the state and it has around 50k people. We don't have vast stretches of nothing like you tend to see out west, but we do have a bunch of tiny little towns scattered around. There's a lot of farm land and forests.
Metro AREAS? You mean AREA. There's 1. Unless you count Desoto County in the Northwest but that's just really a suburb of Memphis.
Gulfport/Biloxi metro
But the Jackson Metro area which includes all the suburbs is more like 500,000 - 600,000
The Biloxi/Gulfport metro is around 350k
DFW is more populated than any state that touches Texas.
I think I agree. Which schools would be 4th and 5th, in your opinion?
There aren’t any other big successful D1 programs but we also do have some elite JUCO programs in PRCC and MGCCC. Baseball is just huge in MS.
You forgot ECCC
Delta State used to be really good when Boo Ferriss was there. They also won a DII national championship in the early 2000s. 2005, I believe.
Delta State in D2 is my #4. After that I’d say William Carey in NAIA
Duke, UNC, NCST, WF, ECU?
Campbell had a great season in 2023. I can’t remember where they topped out at, but they definitely were ranked top 25 for most of the season.
Yeah North Carolina is just loaded with good baseball teams. They probably win.
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, North Carolina would need to have 11 top schools.
[deleted]
Did you read the first two words of the question?
Wingate is a sleeper team too (I only say that because they’re not d1). They’re top 25 every year, recently won a natty and have like 4 drafted players since 2020. Which is pretty impressive for a d2 school
Wingate is now a powerhouse in all sports. It’s crazy.
Yeah, it is pretty crazy. About the only thing they haven’t done yet is rack up natties, but once they start to fall it’s going to be scary for the other D2 schools lol
Played soccer there. They have a natty in that. They have a bunch of nattys just not footballs or basketball yet. But they are coming.
Oh I know man, I’ve been here for the last few natties. It’s been great to see. Soccer, baseball and the mix of cross country and triathlon. So many other sports are so so close though. Volleyball, football, women’s basketball, softball. Cuddy is running out of trophy space haha
Hope they stay d2. D1 is so broken and they don’t have the pockets. D2 will be the new college athletics. D1 is going to minor leagues.
There are years 8 + teams in the tourney are NC teams. Just looked up one year. Wake, unc, nc state, Campbell, duke, charlotte, uncw… there was a year with 8 I just can’t find it
And Campbell, Mount Olive, Louisburg, Catawba, Barton…
Absolutely.
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, North Carolina would need to have 11 top schools.
North Carolina could also make life much worse so millions of people leave.
Gotta be North Carolina
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, North Carolina would need to have 11 top schools.
as we say here in NC, thank god for mississippi. if not for yall we'd be dead last in teacher pay.
(there's a reason we have 8M more people lol - you don't need to spam this comment all over this thread)
Oh and while we’re thanking God for things, did you know that Mississippi now has higher reading scores than North Carolina on the NAEP?
I’m from NC born and raised. We have 8M more people because California and New England decided to make the Carolinas their playground when Florida filled up. Mississippi is now a far more beautiful state that still has a culture.
You’re out of your mind if you think MS is “far more beautiful” than NC. I’m heavily biased but it’s not even close. There’s a reason NC ranks so high by most major indicators in terms of natural beauty.
I wholeheartedly believe NC was naturally one of the most beautiful states in the country. The problem is the 3 major metros have expanded so much that they’ll be touching soon. NC beaches were known for being quaint, now they’re being rapidly commercialized. The lakes are overcrowded. Thankfully, the mountain region hasn’t been affected so much.
MS is full of beautiful land that hasn’t been destroyed in the name of the almighty dollar. I fully recognize that it’s generally because MS is poor, but if NC didn’t have an economic boom I’d probably still be there. It’s not worth the trade. The money was good but the culture is dead and the land is disturbed.
Mississippi has almost zero tourism. NC is a top 5 tourism state.
NC is full of tourists that live there full time
Mississippi
Per capita, as in per population? I'd have to guess Louisiana or Mississippi then.
Correct. Either population of the state or number of college students.
South Carolina hasn’t been top tier for almost a decade
It’s Mississippi and it’s not close. 2.9M population and three consistently great baseball teams.
This is the answer. LA would be a close second.
Texas: Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Tech, Dallas Baptist, sadly Rice fell off hard after Wayne Graham left
This is Lamar erasure.
UTSA too? Something about them ending our run last year? That was a hanging breaking ball for you Ole Rock!
Fuck youre right, they literally beat us both.
In my defense, East TX is more my wheelhouse than the I-35 corridor nowadays, so Lamar was fresh in my mind
It's a large state to cover 🤝🏻
East Texas has some great small school and juco college baseball.
Exactly, tons of great Texas small schools too. Trinity, Tyler JC, St. Edwards, Lubbock Christian, San Jac
That still hurts. And it was not a fluke either.
UTSA MENTIONED RAWWWWWW
Totally agree lots of good baseball, but also millions of people
The question was per capita, though. Texas has 10x the population of Mississippi.
Angelo State is a recent world series winner as well.
Second most wins in baseball since 2020, only behind Tennessee if we are including all the divisions
Graham coached until he was 82. Unreal.
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, Texas would need to have 31 top schools. In fact, Texas would probably be near the bottom per capita.
Should Texas Tech even be included these days?
😔
North Carolina has to be up there (North Carolina, NC State, Wake Forest, Duke, ECU)
NC is deep for sure but the state is too populated.
Definitely larger population in NC than SC, LA, and MS but I think per capita it’s in line with SC if not better - didn’t mention UNC Wilmington, Campbell, Elon, App State, and several others.
MS is hard to beat when talking about per capita AND the highest tier of baseball programs.
You’re not going to beat Mississippi in per capita but the overall level of baseball in NC is unreal. You mentioned the mid majors and High Point is coming along nicely with all the money they’ve put in.
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, North Carolina would need to have 11 top schools.
Okay, you keep spamming this. Is southern Miss even considered a top school when they haven’t had a CWS appearance in 15 years?
They included Duke (last appearance 64 years ago) and ECU (no appearances). So that would make North Carolina far worse.
I’m not replying to that guy specifically. I’m replying to any of your 15 spams of the same message
Regardless, drop it to 2 teams for Mississippi, and it still clears every other state per capita.
They have won 40 or more games 9 years in a row. I don't care what conference you play in or what your schedule is, that is damned impressive.
The Carolinas as a combo have Clemson, South Carolina, Coastal, NCSU, UNC, Duke, WF, ECU and the sometimes good UNCW and Campbell.
Obviously that’s 2 states but impressive how much baseball culture/talent there is in the Carolinas
I agree. Thats a lot of good baseball.
North Carolina has more top tier teams than each of the states you named
and almost 4x the population. That's why the key phrase here is "per capita"
I thought about NC but a lot of people live there.
Per capita
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, North Carolina would need to have 11 top schools.
Definitely SC, IMO, which has like half the population of NC. The Gamecocks have been down lately but they have two titles, Clemson has been to Omaha many times and Coastal almost won its second title this year.
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, South Carolina would need to have 5-6 top schools.
The three states you mentioned seem like the top candidates if we're talking about success over time.
I will point out Kentucky (population less than 5 million) has had three different schools make Omaha in the past two seasons. Not too bad!
Good call. I forgot Murray State is in Kentucky.
lol, look up those state populations. Texas and California are going to be too big. Mississippi is a tenth the population of Texas.
A tenth is generous 😂
Mississippi is by a mile. Miss State,Ole Miss,Southern Miss
Oregon State has 3 national championships in the past 20 years, all while going against the grain- northern school, smaller population, no ESPN backing, outside the power conferences
Oklahoma has had two teams reach Omaha in the last four years and neither one was Oklahoma State.
Yeah we aren’t Mississippi or Alabama in this regard, but we do have 3 very solid programs given the size of the state.
And it’s good to see that both of the big schools have shown they are willing to invest in baseball. Y’all’s new facility is beautiful.
Louisiana is my vote. They love baseball at every level more than anywhere else I’ve been.
Except the minor league level. I NEVER hear the New Orleans Zephyrs being talked about.
They don’t exist anymore. :(
That would explain it. When did they go away?
6 years ago, they changed the name to New Orleans Baby Cakes, interest in the team plummeted and they ceased operations not long after.
So stupid, we lost AAA baseball largely because of a name change LOL
We also lost one of our minor league teams when they moved to be closer to Atlanta. We still have the Shuckers on the coast, though.
Wow. This makes me sad. Were they affiliated with Astros?
They were Miami Marlins affiliates
I had totally forgot about the baby cakes lol.
Louisiana and Mississippi per capita for sure
You forgot Texas ?
texas, texas A&M, TCU, Texas state, UTSA, Baylor, rice
Per capita eliminated California, Florida, Texas, Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina.
My bad my Louisiana education rears its ugly head in the morning
Funny.
Florida has JuCo and NAIA teams that can compete with D1 teams. That panhandle is no joke.
I knew there are a lot of strong juco programs in Florida.
I'd have to say MS wins, LA following behind. Similar populations, MS has 2 solid programs vs 1 in LA.
Southern Miss is very good. Top 25. So I’d say three, but I get your point
Does MS have a 4th or 5th program?
Delta State (Div II) is always very solid. But no, only 3 D1 schools
What about Jackson State Baseball? I know it’s good in football for an HBCU.
Yes they exist, but they’re terrible
Even for an HBCU?
Don’t forget about Southern Miss! Also ULL is not a bad program, they’ve had their moments.
Tennessee is a good place to look especially between ETSU, Vandy and UT.
What about Tenn Tech?
True. The more the merrier
Tennessee (Tennessee and Vanderbilt)
MS and it’s not even remotely a conversation.
Mississippi gets my vote. I'm biased I know, but with Miss State and Ole Miss having national championships in last last few years and Southern Miss being a top 20 team for the last 7-8 years, Mississippi has to be at the top when you consider how small the state is.
Mississippi and it’s not close. A few other States can probably match up with State, Ole Miss, and Southern Miss but none of those states have near as low of a population as MS and you said per capita. I can’t imagine another state even comes close to this level with as low of a population.
Once, we had something to say here
When exactly?
Oregon. Oregon State and Oregon are both good teams.
also TIL the SE US is just empty except for FL.
Not sure you can include a program with zero Omaha appearances.
Oregon does have an Omaha appearance in 1954. None of us were around to see it, but we do have one prior to the 28 year program shut down.
Portland is decent as well, though not in the top tier.
Have Linfield and GF made the D3 tourney since they won titles last decade?
No idea.
Don’t forget about University of Portland. They have had some decent stretches recently.
I’m actually surprised Oregon’s population is so small. I would’ve thought it was closer to 10m given the way the media talks about it.
Same. Checking it out now it’s really just Portland.
Yep lol Mississippi has a population of 2.9 million
North Carolina. UNC, NCSU, Duke, Wake Forest, and ECU.
UNCW and Campbell can be scrappy too.
You’re right, I felt like I was forgetting at least one school! UNC-W played really well against us last year.
Mississippi has 3 top schools with 3 million people.
So to match, North Carolina would need to have 11 top schools.
North Carolina the last few years: NC State, UNC, ECU, and Duke. Campbell was up and coming until Haire dipped.
I feel like it’s gotta be Mississippi since we have a significantly lower state population than any of the others.
Yeah, I agree. MS is the winner after reading all the responses.
I’m gonna start calling ULL ULaLa because you did. I like that.
“ULL” sounds like a construction company. Or a company that makes heavy machinery.
They really, really hate being called anything other then UL or Louisiana (including ULL). So I don't know if you're being intentionally funny by calling them ULaLa, but hats off either way.
NC
Florida. Best year round baseball state in the nation.
AZ has 2 blue blood schools in one state.
Could argue Louisiana isn’t a top tier even tho LSU is superior to every other school in that state. They are the only ones currently competing for national titles every year.
Could you define "top tier"? You have several teams listed in your examples that I wouldn't consider anywhere near "top tier".
For example, you listed La Tech. Tech only has 4 tournament appearances in the past 35+ years. How is that "top tier"? They're like C tier in my opinion.
How many "top tier" programs do you think there are in the country? Personally, I would only consider about 20-25 programs nationally to be "top tier".
ULaLa?
U so fancy
this doesnt help lol
University of Louisiana Lafayette
ohh you mean UL/ Louisiana?
TN, for sure
They are just missing a 3rd team. But yes they are in the discussion.
North Carolina. And it’s not really close. NC State, UNC, Wake Forest, Duke, East Carolina, UNCW, and even Campbell has had solid teams
NC is the 9th most populated state though.
I was about to say Texas, then saw your name and flair. I then realized there were only really two or three Texas teams that are top tier
Texas is 3rd most populated state.
💁♂️🤷♂️
don’t wanna sound biased but i’d have to say Mississippi
No question it’s NC Duke unc NC state wake forest ECU
North Carolina, UNC, NCS, Duke Wake Forest, East Carolina Campbell, UNC Wilmington
North Carolina is too populated.
I’d say South Carolina but Carolina just hasn’t been what they usually are. Coastal and Clemson are still great programs however
if you remove the per capita and top tier requirements, i think PA would get a mention of sorts, but baseball programs here are kinda buns