College baseball has long carried a reputation as a regional sport – specifically a Southern sport, where warmer weather in winter months allows teams to get a jump start on training while snow falls in other parts of the country.

This year’s College World Series field has plenty of Southern representation – traditional powers Florida State, Florida and two-time defending national champion South Carolina are all in the mix – but also features teams that suggest college baseball’s footprint is expanding.

Consider two of the teams in this year’s tournament, Stony Brook and Kent State, schools from New York and Ohio, respectively, who sent shockwaves by surviving their regionals and Super Regionals en route to a place among the final eight teams in the country.

Asked if parity is on the rise in college baseball, FSU coach Mike Martin responded, “I’m saying it’s already here.

via Notebook: Martin sees parity.