Long Beach gets in as host

The sites for the NCAA baseball regionals have been set, with Long Beach State among the 16 schools selected as hosts Sunday.

Other Southland teams will learn their fate today when the 64-team bracket is announced.

UC Riverside and Long Beach State are the only Southern California teams that have already clinched a berth. Riverside (37-19) is in by virtue of winning the Big West Conference title; Long Beach because it is a host.

UC Irvine (40-15-1) is a sure bet for an at-large selection, but UCLA (30-26), Pepperdine (35-20) and Cal State Fullerton (33-23) are on the bubble and are sure to be watching at 9:30 a.m. when the selections are announced.

“It’s good for the community and good for the school,” Long Beach State Coach Mike Weathers said of getting the regional for the third time in five years. “It’s well deserved for our team, for what they’ve accomplished and rewards them for the way they’ve played.”

Thirty Division I conference champions receive an automatic berth, leaving 34 at-large bids. Eight of those went to schools selected as regional hosts -- among them Long Beach State (37-18), which finished third in the Big West. That leaves 26 at-large berths to be announced today.

UC Riverside and UC Irvine placed bids to be a regional host, but the committee, using a subjective selection process, picked Long Beach State instead. Coaches from both teams were surprised that the committee bypassed the top two conference teams.

“I think it’s a shame that neither Irvine nor us is going to host,” Riverside Coach Doug Smith said. “No knock on Long Beach because they’ve hosted before and done a great job, but in order to prove that you can be successful, you first have to get one.”

Anteaters Coach Dave Serrano had been hopeful that Irvine would get a regional, but the committee selected Arizona State and San Diego -- which will use Tony Gwynn Stadium at San Diego State -- to join Long Beach as hosts in the West region.

“I’m a little surprised, but not stunned,” Serrano said. “Part of it might be our seating capacity, some might be because we didn’t bid for a super regional and they kind of frown upon that. But I’m not worried about that now. We’ve just got to get this team ready for next week.”

It left Riverside and Irvine in limbo for a day, not knowing where they will play. Because the NCAA prefers to keep conference schools apart in the first round, one probably will be sent to San Diego and the other to Arizona State.

Each regional will feature four teams in a double-elimination format. Play begins Friday. Serrano, whose team set a school record for wins, said it doesn’t matter where his team is sent.

“My preference was to play in Anteater Stadium, but that was taken away by a committee,” he said. “But we’re a good baseball team and someone is going to have to reckon with us wherever we go.”

Pepperdine, which was third in the West Coast Conference, should also get in. That would leave UCLA and Cal State Fullerton as bubble teams.

Cal State Fullerton dropped two of three against Long Beach State over the weekend, though the Titans have a solid strength of schedule. Their regular appearances in the College World Series also won’t hurt.

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Kyle Owsley threw seven scoreless innings and Matt Winkelman’s two-run homer in the seventh broke a scoreless tie as Cal State Los Angeles defeated Kutztown (Pa.), 4-1, in the Division II championships at Montgomery, Ala. The Golden Eagles (47-13-1) face Nebraska Omaha on Tuesday.

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Chapman was eliminated from the Division III World Series with a 16-7 loss to Emory (Ga.) on Sunday in Grand Chute, Wis. Chapman (41-8) had fallen into the loser’s bracket late Saturday night with a 3-1 setback to Kean (N.J.)

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

peter.yoon@latimes.com