Texas A&M earns No. 4 national seed in NCAA Tournament

As you walk down the grandiose hallway that connects the Texas A&M baseball locker room and the third base dugout at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park, you cannot help but notice one five-letter word etched in maroon in all capital letters jutting out from the wall.

OMAHA.

That one word, signifying the promised land for college baseball programs, stands out among murals of past players, framed jerseys of every Aggie who has made it to the big leagues and other inspirational sayings and photos.

The goal of getting back to Omaha for the College World Series — essentially the Elite 8 of college baseball but in a Final 4 setting — is something that A&M head coach Rob Childress does not avoid discussing with his players. They talk about and think about Omaha every single day inside the A&M facility.

Yet in the 11-year Childress era, the Aggies have made it to the CWS just one time, knocking off Florida State in Tallahassee in 2011 to get to Eastern Nebraska behind the right arms of current MLBers Michael Wacha and Ross Stripling.

But for just the second time since the super regional format was put in place in 1999, No. 1-ranked Texas A&M has earned a top-eight national seed. That ensures home field advantage throughout Regional and Super Regional play so long as the Aggies advance out of their home Regional this weekend.

The NCAA Tournament bracket was unveiled moments ago and Texas A&M — which defeated Florida, 12-5, on Sunday to win the SEC Tournament title for the first time since making the conference move four years ago — has earned the No. 4 overall seed heading into regional play on Friday.

The only other time Texas A&M earned a national seed was ’99, and A&M took advantage of playing back-to-back weekends at home in postseason play to reach the College World Series under Mark Johnson.

The Aggies are looking for their sixth trip to Omaha. Beau Bell coached A&M to the CWS in 1951 and Tom Chandler got there with the Maroon & White in ’64. Johnson made two College World Series appearances in two decades at the helm: ’93 and ’99. And Childress went in ’11.

Texas A&M’s quest to watch those five all-important letters come to life continues in earnest on Friday. The Aggies will host second-seeded Minnesota, third-seeded Wake Forest and fourth-seeded Binghamton in the College Station Regional. First pitch for A&M is slated for Friday at 8 pm at Olsen Field at Blue Bell Park.

Should the seeds hold, the Aggies are looking at a familiar foe across the bracket: Fort Worth Regional host TCU, who would come to College Station for the super regional round. The two teams played a 16-inning Game 3 in the 2015 Fort Worth Super Regional, with the Horned Frogs advancing to the College World Series.