Irvine draws a tough field to regional
UC Irvine spent the final month of the regular season atop the Baseball America poll, ran away with the Big West Conference title and bid competitively to play host to an NCAA regional for the first time.
All it earned the Anteaters was arguably the toughest regional matchup in the Division I baseball tournament.
“Be careful what you wish for,” Irvine Coach Mike Gillespie said after the 64-team bracket was announced Monday.
Irvine is playing host to a regional that includes Fresno State, Virginia and San Diego State. Fresno State is the defending national champion, Virginia won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament and San Diego State is led by pitcher Stephen Strasburg, the projected top pick in the major league draft.
Irvine (43-13) plays Fresno State (32-28), and Virginia (43-12-1) plays San Diego State (40-21) in one of 16 double-elimination regionals that begin Friday.
Cal State Fullerton (42-14) plays host to a regional that includes Utah (26-29), which earned its first bid since 1960 by winning the Western Athletic Conference tournament, West Coast Conference champion Gonzaga (35-16) and Georgia Southern (42-15).
Regional winners advance to best-of-three Super Regionals that will determine the eight teams for the College World Series.
Irvine and Fullerton met in the 2007 College World Series and it could happen again if both advance to Omaha.
Texas was seeded No. 1 by the 10-member Division I baseball committee, which includes Fullerton Athletic Director Brian Quinn.
The other seeded teams, listed in order: Fullerton, Louisiana State, North Carolina, Arizona State, Irvine, Oklahoma and Florida.
“We’re excited that we’re the No. 2 national seed,” said Fullerton Coach Dave Serrano, whose team finished five games behind Irvine in the Big West standings but began the final weekend of the regular season with the nation’s best Ratings Percentage Index score.
“I’m sure people are going to have their opinions, but I think our team is very deserving of that recognition.”
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (37-19), which finished third in the Big West, will make its first Division I playoff appearance in a regional at Tempe, Ariz., that also includes Arizona State (44-12), Kent State (42-15) and Oral Roberts (31-13).
Eight teams each from the Big 12 and Southeastern conferences and seven from the ACC are in the tournament.
Arizona State, Washington State and Oregon State were selected from the Pacific 10 Conference.
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