UC Irvine faces tough test in NCAA baseball playoffs

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The NCAA baseball committee didn’t do any favors to Big West Conference champion UC Irvine (43-13) when releasing its playoff bracket Monday, forcing the Anteaters to play defending NCAA champion Fresno State (32-28) in their playoff opener Friday at 8 p.m. at Irvine while also including Atlantic Coast Conference champion Virginia (43-12-1) and San Diego State (40-21), led by pitcher Stephen Strasburg, in their regional.

Irvine is seeded No. 6 overall.

Cal State Fullerton (42-14) received the No. 2 national seed and will host Utah (26-29) in its playoff opener Friday at 7 p.m. Georgia Southern will play Gonzaga at 3 p.m. in the other regional game at Fullerton.

-- Eric Sondheimer