Pitching to Get to Omaha

Basically after every tough game I'll see someone mention that we can't go to Omaha or get through a regional with this pitching. Got me curious so I took a look to see how true that is. Let's look regional by regional, super by super and CWS series and get an idea for what you actually need in terms of era. If someone wants to do a deeper dive on other stats that would be cool to see too.

Format for winners info is Regional/super site: Team (Season ERA, Season ERA rank). Note that some ERA me be somewhat incorrect of miss on number of innings pitched by the series winner. Typically in assuming 8 IP by home team and 9 IP by away.

Source: NCAA 2023 Schedule and Results.


Winston Salem: Wake Forest (2.83, #1)
Game 1: 12-1 George Mason
Game 2: 21-6 Maryland
Game 3: 15-1 George Mason

Series ERA 3.000

Tuscaloosa: Alabama (4.26, #16)
Game 1: 4-3 Nichols
Game 2: 11-8 Troy
Game 3: 8-0 Boston College

Series ERA 4.125

Terre Haute: Indiana State (3.84, #5)
Game 1: 6-5 Wright State
Game 2: 7-4 Iowa
Game 3: 11-8 Iowa

Series ERA 6.375

Stillwater: Oral Roberts (4.03, #7)
Game 1: 6-4 Oklahoma State
Game 2: 15-12 Washington
Game 3: 6-5 DBU

Series ERA 7.000

Stanford: Stanford (5.72, #124)
Game 1: 13-2 SJSU
Game 2: 6-5 CSF
Game 3: 13-5 TAMU
Game 4: 7-1 TAMU

Series ERA 3.250

Nashiville: Oregon (5.28, #84)
Game 1: 5-4 Nashville
Game 2: 8-7 Vanderbilt
Game 3: 11-2 Xavier

Series ERA 4.675

Lexington: Kentucky (4.33, #20)
Game 1: 4-0 Ball State
Game 2: 3-5 Indiana
Game 3: 10-0 West Virginia
Game 4: 16-6 Indiana
Game 5: 4-2 Indiana

Series ERA 2.925

Gainesville: Floria (4.65, #48)
Game 1: 3-0 FAM
Game 2: 4-5 TTech
Game 3: 8-2 UCON
Game 4: 7-1 TTech
Game 5: 6-0 Ttech

Series ERA 1.605

Fayetteville: TCU (4.64, #46)
Game 1: 12-4 Arizona
Game 2: 20-5 Arkansas
Game 3: 12-4 Arkansas

Series ERA 4.333

Coral Gables: Texas (4.18, #10)
Game 1: 4-2 Louisiana
Game 2: 4-1 Miami
Game 3: 10-6 Miami

Series ERA 3.115

Conway: Duke (4.29, #18)
Game 1: 12-3 UNCW
Game 2: 2-1 Rider
Game 3: 12-3 Coastal Carolina

Series ERA 2.520

Columbia: South Carolina (4.19, #12)
Game 1: 19-1 Central Conn
Game 2: 6-3 NC State
Game 3: 16-7 Campbell

Series ERA 4.125

Clemson: Tennessee (3.63, #2)
Game 1: 8-1 Charlotte
Game 2: 6-5 Clemson
Game 3: 9-2 Charlotte

Series ERA 2.880

Charlottesville: Virginia (3.81, #4)
Game 1: 15-1 Army
Game 2: 2-1 East Carolina
Game 3: 8-3 East Carolina

Series ERA 1.875

Baton Rouge: LSU (4.47, #32)
Game 1: 7-2 Tulane
Game 2: 6-5 Oregon State
Game 3: 13-7 Oregon State

Series ERA 5.250

Auburn: Southern Miss (4.51, #35)
Game 1: 2-4 Samford
Game 2: 7-2 Auburn
Game 3: 9-4 Samford
Game 4: 11-2 Penn
Game 5: 11-7 Penn

Series ERA 4.071

AVERAGE SEASON ERA 4.29
MIN/MAX SEASON ERA 2.83/5.72
AVERAGE SERIES ERA 3.82
MIN/MAX SEASON ERA 1.6/7

Conclusion: If you want to win your regional pitching better than your regular season average is a good idea.

Super Regional Results

Baton Rouge: LSU (4.47, #32)
Game 1: 14-0 Kentucky
Game 2: 8-3 Kentucky

Series ERA 1.688

Charlottsville: Virginia (3.81, #4)
Game 1: 4-5 Duke
Game 2: 14-4 Duke
Game 3: 12-2 Duke

Series ERA 4.125

Eugene: Oral Roberts (4.03, #7)
Game 1: 8-9 Oregon
Game 2: 8-7 Oregon
Game 3: 11-6 Oregon

Series ERA 7.333

Fort Worth: TCU (4.64, #46)
Game 1: 4-1 Indiana State
Game 2: 6-4 Indiana State

Series ERA 2.813

Gainesville: Flordia (4.65, #48)
Game 1: 5-4 South Carolina
Game 2: 4-0 South Carolina

Series ERA 2.250

Hattiesburg: Tennessee (3.63, #2)
Game 1: 3-5 S. Miss
Game 2: 8-4 S. Miss
Game 3: 5-0 S. Miss

Series ERA 3.000

Stanford: Stanford (5.72, #124)
Game 1: 5-7 Texas
Game 2: 8-5 Texas
Game 3: 7-6 Texas

Series ERA 6.478

Winston-Salem: Wake Forest (2.83, #1)
Game 1: 5-4 Alabama
Game 2: 22-5 Alabama

Series ERA 5.063

AVERAGE SEASON ERA 4.22
MIN/MAX SEASON ERA 2.83/5.72
AVERAGE SERIES ERA 4.09
MIN/MAX SEASON ERA 1.688/7.33

Conclusion: Idk, seems like if you want to win you should score more than the other guys.