After making big changes in their coaching department, the Arizona Sun Devils are back in the main stream and are included in the 64-team Division I college baseball tournament. The chairman of the committee, Tim Weiser, who was given the responsibility to find out those 64 teams that are capable for this tournament, said that they had a fine season and thus he thought they deserved to be in the tournament.
The Arizona State is going very well with new coach Tim Esmay who joined team last November. NCAA also selected eight teams from Atlantic Coast Conference and Southeastern Conference. It’s been for the first time in Arizona’s history that they are picked as No. 1 seed for the tournament after field expanded to 64 teams in 1999.
The winners of 16 regionals will move to super regionals and from there, they are to go to College World Series, begins June 19 in Omaha, Neb. Defending National Champion LSU will be there at UCLA to play their first regional match against UC Irvine. North Carolina is another big giant who has made many appearances in College World Series and they are one of the favorites for the tournament. Patriot League champion Bucknell and Southwestern Conference winner Grambling earned automatic berths in the tournament.
The regional brackets are given below:
Tempe: Arizona St., San Diego, Hawaii, Milwaukee
Fayetteville: Arkansas, Washington St., Kansas St., Grambling
Auburn: Auburn, Clemson, Southern Miss., Jacksonville St.
Atlanta: Georgia Tech, Alabama, Elon, Mercer
Charlottesville: Virginia, Mississippi, St. Johns (NY), VCU
Norman: Oklahoma, California, North Carolina, Oral Roberts
Columbia: South Carolina, Virginia Tech, Citadel, Bucknell
Myrtle Beach: Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, North Carolina St., Stony Brook
Austin: Texas, Rice, Louisiana-Lafayette, Rider
Fort Worth: TCU, Baylor, Arizona, Lamar
Norwich: Florida State, Connecticut, Oregon, Central Connecticut St.
Louisville: Louisville, Vanderbilt, Illinois St., St. Louis
Los Angeles: UCLA, LSU, UC Irvine, Kent State
Fullerton: Cal State Fullerton, Stanford, New Mexico, Minnesota
Coral Gables: Miami (FL), Texas A&M, Florida International, Dartmouth
Gainesville: Florida, Florida Atlantic, Oregon St., Bethune-Cookman