Fullerton, USC to Play Hosts

Top-seeded Cal State Fullerton will play host to Mississippi State and third-seeded USC will play host to Florida International in NCAA super regionals this weekend, the Division I baseball committee announced Monday.

Best-of-three super regionals will begin Friday to determine participants in the College World Series June 8-16 at Omaha.

All eight teams that were seeded at the start of the 64-team playoffs won four-team, double-elimination regionals last weekend and were awarded super regionals. Notre Dame and Ohio State were the only regional hosts that did not advance.

Fourth-seeded Stanford (46-15) will host a super regional for the third consecutive year. The Cardinal plays South Carolina (48-18).

Other matchups are: Clemson (41-20) at No. 2-seeded Miami (47-12); Louisiana State (43-20-1) vs. No. 5 Tulane (53-10) at Metairie, La; Florida State (46-17) at No. 6 Georgia (45-19); Tennessee (44-18) vs. No. 7 East Carolina (47-11) at Kinston, N.C.; and Rice (48-17) at No. 8 Nebraska (48-14).

This is the first time Fullerton (44-16) and USC (42-17) will host super regionals since the NCAA adopted the format in 1999.

That year, Fullerton was seeded third but was forced to play a super regional against Ohio State at Columbus, Ohio, because of Ohio State’s larger stadium and greater revenue potential for the NCAA. Fullerton won the series and advanced to Omaha.

USC was ousted in a super regional at Stanford in 1999 and reached the World Series last year by beating Georgia Tech at Atlanta.

Fullerton and USC will be playing at home for the second consecutive week.

Fullerton defeated Temple and Arizona State, and lost to Texas Tech before rallying to beat the Red Raiders to win the regional title.

USC swept through its regional with victories over Oral Roberts, Pepperdine and Fresno State.

Mississippi State (39-22) beat Kent State twice and also defeated Delaware to win a regional at Columbus, Ohio.

“Our teams sound very similar--we’re both good on the mound and on defense and we’re both opportunistic on offense,” Fullerton Coach George Horton said.

Florida International (43-19) won a rain-delayed regional Monday by defeating Notre Dame, 5-4, after losing to the Fighting Irish, 5-2, earlier in the day.

“We don’t know much about them yet, but the program has always been a winner,” USC Coach Mike Gillespie said. “They’re not a household name like some programs but you have to be pretty good to do what they did at Notre Dame.”

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Schedule

Best-of-three series (winner advances to College World Series)

USC (42-17) vs. Florida International (43-19) at Dedeaux Field

* Game 1--Friday, 6 p.m

* Game 2--Saturday, 1 p.m.

* Game 3--Sunday, 1 p.m.*

*if necessary

*

Cal State Fullerton (44-16) vs. Mississippi State (39-22) at Goodwin Field

* Game 1--Friday, 7 p.m

* Game 2--Saturday, 7 p.m.

* Game 3--Sunday, 1 p.m.*

*if necessary

College baseball super regional schedule, D9