Diamond Hogs Awarded NCAA Baseball Regional at Baum Stadium
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark.
– The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee awarded Arkansas one of 16 NCAA Regionals on Sunday afternoon for the 60th annual NCAA Baseball Championships.
The regional will begin on Friday, June 2 at Baum Stadium and continue through Monday, June 5. The No. 14 Razorbacks are hosting a NCAA Regional for the third time in school history (1999, 2004 & 2006). They are one of five Southeastern Conference schools selected to host (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Ole Miss).
“We have such a great fans base here that really comes out and supports us, and I think that helped us secure a regional,” Arkansas head coach Dave Van Horn said. “The NCAA talks about creating a great experience for the student-athlete and the atmosphere our fans will create next weekend will be amazing.”
Arkansas last hosted a NCAA regional in 2004 with the Razorbacks knocking off Wichita State twice on Sunday to win the regional on their way to the fifth College World Series appearance in school history.
The 64-team field will be announced at 11:30 p.m., Monday, May 29, during a live, half-hour program on ESPN. The committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and first round of the College World Series and field will not be reseeded after play begins.
The Razorbacks will hold a watch party at Buffalo Wild Wings in Fayetteville beginning at 11 a.m. on Monday.
Tickets for the NCAA Fayetteville Regional are already on sale by calling the Razorback ticket office at 1-800-982-HOGS or by logging onto Hogwired.com and clicking on tickets. Roughly 800 chairback reserved tickets remain with general admission tournament books also available.
By virtue of being awarded a regional, nine of the host institutions also have been selected as at-large teams to the 64-team field. Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Georgia Tech, Kentucky, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Texas and Virginia, have made the field as at-large selections. Clemson, Mississippi, Nebraska, Pepperdine, Rice, would clinch automatic berths by winning their conference tournament championship, which are scheduled for Sunday afternoon. A loss in those tournament championship games makes them an at-large selection. Cal St. Fullerton and Oregon St. already have clinched automatic berths by virtue of winning the Big West Conference and Pacific-10 Conference, respectively. Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, June 2, to Monday, June 5.
Kentucky and Pepperdine will host a regional for the first time, while North Carolina, Oregon St. and Virginia are hosting for the second time in school history. This will be the 22nd time that Texas has hosted a regional, while Clemson (11th) is the only other institution to host 10 or more times since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975. Georgia Tech is hosting a regional for the eighth time, while Cal St. Fullerton (sixth), Oklahoma (sixth overall and third time in Norman), Alabama (fifth), Nebraska (fifth), Rice (fifth), Georgia (three), Arkansas (three) and Mississippi (three) have hosted in the past as well.
Seven sites (Cal St. Fullerton, Clemson, Georgia Tech, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oregon St. and Texas) also hosted in 2005.
Thirty Division I conferences receive an automatic berth in the field of 64, along with 34 at-large selections.
The 60th Men’s College World Series begins play Friday, June 16, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.
The 16 regional sites, with host institutions and records through Saturday, May 27, are as follows:
Alabama (41-19), Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Arkansas (38-19), Fayetteville, Ark.
Cal St. Fullerton (41-13), Fullerton, Calif.
Clemson (46-14), Clemson, S.C.
Georgia (41-19), Athens, Ga.
Georgia Tech (45-16), Atlanta
Kentucky (42-15), Lexington, Ky.
Mississippi (39-20), Oxford, Miss.
Nebraska (42-14), Lincoln, Neb.
North Carolina (45-13), Chapel Hill, N.C.
Oklahoma (40-19), Norman, Okla.
Oregon St. (39-13), Corvallis, Oregon
Pepperdine (39-19), Malibu, Calif.
Rice (49-10), Houston
Texas (40-19), Austin, Texas
Virginia (46-13), Charlottesville, Va.
