Kent State, St. John's and Stony Brook are among the mid-major baseball programs that have made the road to the College World Series a lot bumpier for the traditional powers.
Texas coach Augie Garrido says smaller schools have recognized that the costs associated with playing for a national title in baseball are not as high as in other sports. That, along with NCAA scholarship limitations and toned-down aluminum bats, has created parity.
Kent State (44-17) will be in a super regional for the first time when it plays a best-of-three series at Oregon beginning Saturday. Same with St. John's (40-21), which goes to Arizona, and Stony Brook (50-12), which visits LSU. Those series start Friday.
Kent State spends just $740,000 a year on baseball— a bargain by college athletics standards.