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Pirates, Owls named regional hosts
From staff and
Conference USA reports
©2009 Bonesville.net.
All rights rights reserved.
< Story updated Sunday,
05.24.09, 8:49 PM >
Conference USA regular
season champion East Carolina and the league's tournament champion,
Rice, were both picked on Sunday to host NCAA baseball regionals.
The selections marked the
first time the selection committee has chosen two Conference USA schools
among the 16 regional hosts for the NCAA's 64-team championship
playoffs.
The Pirates edged out the
Owls for C-USA's regular season title on May 16, the regular season's
final day, but were ousted from the conference tournament after dropping
two games out of three.
Rice mitigated its
disappointing regular season finish by sweeping through the C-USA
championship tournament at Pete Taylor Park in Hattiesburg, claiming the
title on Sunday with an 8-6 victory over host Southern Mississippi.
East Carolina will be
hosting a regional for the first time since 2004 when the regular season
champion Pirates won the regional played at Kinston's Grainger Stadium.
It will be third time the Pirates have hosted NCAA regional play.
The Owls will serve as
NCAA regional hosts for the eighth time in the last nine years.
The 16 regional hosts and
sites:
-
Arizona State, Tempe,
AZ
-
Cal-Irvine, Irvine, CA
-
Cal State-Fullerton,
Fullerton, CA
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Clemson, Clemson, SC
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East Carolina,
Greenville
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Florida, Gainesville,
FL
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Florida State,
Tallahassee, FL
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Georgia Tech, Atlanta
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Louisiana State, Baton
Rouge, LA
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Louisville,
Louisville, KY
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Mississippi, Oxford,
MS
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North Carolina, Chapel
Hill
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Oklahoma, Norman, OK
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Rice, Houston
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Texas, Austin, TX
-
Texas Christian, Fort
Worth, TX
Each regional field
features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16
regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 29, to Monday,
June 1.
Conference USA's regular
season champion has hosted a regional in all but one year since the
field was expanded to 64 teams in 1999.
The remaining at-large
teams, top-eight national seeds, first-round regional pairings and site
assignments will be announced at 12:30 p.m. ET, on Monday during a live,
half-hour program on ESPN. The committee will set the entire 64-team
bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the
Men's College World Series, and will not reseed the field after play
begins.
Selection of the eight
super regional hosts will be announced on
www.ncaa.com on Monday, June 1, at approximately 11 p.m.
ET.
Thirty Division I
conferences receive an automatic berth in the field of 64, along with 34
at-large selections. The 63rd Men's College World Series begins play
Saturday, June 13, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, NE.
View Final Conference USA Championship Brackets
View Game-by-Game Tournament Scores & Attendance
PAGE UPDATED
05/25/09 01:59 AM.
©2009 Bonesville.net. All rights rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. News, game accounts and
statistics may be compiled from various sources, including but not limited
to staff, East Carolina University, opposing team and Conference USA reports.
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