SEC, ACC each get four regional sites

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Posted 5:14AM on Monday, May 30, 2005

The Southeastern Conference with Florida, Louisiana State, Mississippi and Tennessee and Atlantic Coast Conference with Tech, Clemson, Florida State, and Miami led the field with four regional hosts each. Defending national champion Cal State Fullerton was selected Sunday as one of the 16 regional tournament hosts by the NCAA Division I baseball committee and Georgia Tech was picked to host for the fourth year in a row. The Titans (41-14), led by star right-hander Ricky Romero and outfielder Sergio Pedroza, are trying to become just the fifth program to repeat as College World Series champions. The Big 12 had three representatives selected: Baylor, Nebraska and Texas. ``There were very, very, very few slam dunks this year to host,'' committee chairman Charlie Carr said. ``You could split hairs between maybe 25 of them. This was maybe the toughest decisions we've had to make since I've been involved.'' Pac-10 champion Oregon State (41-9) will host for the first time since the NCAA went to a regional format in 1975. ``This is great news for everyone involved with Oregon State baseball,'' Beavers coach Pat Casey said. ``For our team, our staff, and especially our fans because they're going to be able to watch us play in the postseason. They've given us a tremendous home-field advantage this season.'' Long Beach State, Mississippi and Tulane will be hosting regionals for the second time. The other host is Arizona State. ``One of the criteria is geographical distribution, but it's one of many factors that go into it,'' said Carr, also the senior associate athletic director at Florida State. ``The most overriding factor is trying to reward success.'' 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. Each of the four-team, double-elimination regionals will be played on campus sites from June 3-6. The winners of each regional will advance to the super regionals, played June 10-13. The eight winners of the super regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June 17 in Omaha, Neb. Carr said the committee received over 40 bids from schools to host in the postseason. ``It was a similar number to what we've had in the past,'' Carr said. ``It's a great representation of our college baseball membership.'' Florida State will be hosting for the 24th time, while Miami and Texas are hosts for the 21st time since the regional format started. The Hurricanes (38-17) were selected to host despite entering the tournament on a six-game losing streak, their longest since 1966. ``I think everyone was confident that we would host a regional,'' coach Jim Morris said. Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Mississippi and Texas each hosted regionals last year. Long Beach State didn't, but hosted a super regional. The committee received a bid from Big East regular-season champion St. John's, representing the Northeast an area that rarely bids for or plays host to regionals. But the Red Storm lost their two games in the conference tournament and don't have the attendance numbers many of the other schools awarded regionals do. ``Their bid was certainly within the guidelines of our parameters and we certainly gave them consideration,'' Carr said. ``There were so many bids that were so close.'' Rice (40-17), which served as a host school the last four years, and the College of Charleston (47-13) were also among schools considered. The College of Charleston's bid was denied in large part because of reported poor field conditions at Joe Riley Ballpark, the site of the Southern Conference tournament, which the school chose to use as the host stadium rather than its on-campus ballpark. ``There was a factor in the field conditions,'' Carr said. ``And we felt it would be better to look otherwise.'' Cal State Fullerton is trying to join Texas (1949-50), Southern California (1970-74), Stanford (1987-88) and Louisiana State (1996-97) as repeat national champions.