College World Series : Cal, Arizona State Open Play in College World Series Friday

Top-ranked Arizona State will take on No. 8 California in the opening game of the College World Series Friday.

The Sun Devils (56-11) will meet the Bears (40-23) in an afternoon game, followed by a game between No. 4 Wichita State (54-14-1) and No. 5 Florida (47-17-1).

In games Saturday, No. 2 Fresno State (56-10) plays No. 7 Stanford (41-22) and No. 3 Miami (51-12-1) faces No. 6 Cal State Fullerton (41-16).

The pairings were announced by the NCAA baseball committeebaseball committee, which disregarded the fact that three of the eight teams are from the Pacific 10 Southern Division.

Gene McArtor, chairman of the committee, said the panel tried to keep clubs from the same conferences apart in the eight regionals but said, “Here, we just want to rank the ballclubs.”

The seedings place Arizona State and Stanford in different brackets but set up a first-round Pacific 10 matchup between Arizona State and California.

“We certainly are happy to have three (Pac-10 teams) in,” said Sun Devil Coach Jim Brock. “We are very proud how they have all done to this point.”

Wright said it is the first time three teams from the same conference have advanced to the College World Series. In the Pac-10 Southern Division, Arizona State finished first at 21-9, followed by Stanford at 18-12 and California at 16-14.