Rice still cooking; SEC smoking
By The Associated Press
Defending College World Series
champion Rice was one of 16 schools selected Sunday as regional site hosts
for the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
The Owls (43-12), with their
highly touted trio of right-handers Jeff Niemann, Wade Townsend and Philip
Humber — all possible top 10 picks in next Monday's draft — are hosting for
the fourth straight year and attempting to become just the fifth repeat CWS
winner.
The Southeastern Conference
led the field with a record five regional hosts: Arkansas, Georgia, LSU,
Mississippi and South Carolina.
``There were five very
deserving teams that have regionals, and that's why they'll be hosting,''
Division I baseball committee chairman Charlie Carr said.
The Atlantic Coast Conference
was second with three schools: Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia.
The other regional hosts are:
Cal State Fullerton,
East Carolina, Miami, Notre Dame,
Oklahoma, Stanford and Texas.
Carr said host schools are
determined by a number of factors, including win-loss record, conference
standings and record in recent games.
``The opportunity to host is
driven by the success on the field, and this year, there has been a lot of
success by teams across the country,'' said Carr, the senior associate
athletic director at Florida State and a one-time athletics administrator at
East Carolina. ``All of these components go into what has become an
increasingly difficult job for the committee.''
Each of the 16 host schools
are guaranteed berths in the 64-team tournament, which starts Friday. The
rest of the field, including the top eight national seeds, will be announced
by the committee Monday.
The regionals will be played
on campus sites, except at East Carolina,
which will be played at Grainger Stadium
in Kinston, N.C., and at Oklahoma, which will be at Bricktown Ballpark in
Oklahoma City.
Mississippi and Virginia are
hosting regionals for the first time.
``It is something very much
part of our criteria — we enjoy finding new sites, and it spreads the game
of college baseball,'' Carr said. ``It's a fine line we walk and it's tough,
but we are very much looking to expand our tournament wherever we can.''
Cal State Fullerton, Florida
State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Rice, Stanford and Texas all were regional
hosts last year. This will be the 23rd time Florida State has hosted since
the inception of the regional format in 1975, and the 20th time for both
Miami and Texas.
``Obviously, the prior history
of hosting and success a team has does not go unnoticed,'' Carr said.
The four-team,
double-elimination regionals will be played from June 4-6. The winners of
each regional will advance to the super regionals, played June 11-13.
The eight winners of the super
regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June 18 in
Omaha, Neb.
``I can tell you how excited
about the format we are,'' Carr said. ``It has done great things for college
baseball. We will continue to monitor it and the championship bracket, but
it's pretty good the way it is.''
Rice is trying to join Texas
(1949-50), Southern California (1970-74), Stanford (1987-88) and Louisiana
State (1996-97) as repeat national champions.
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The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
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02/23/2007 10:37:01 AM
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