Sunday, May 26, 2024

Tigers named regional host; more news to come Monday



The NCAA on Sunday night designated Clemson's Doug Kingsmore Stadium as one of 16 host sites for first-round regionals in the 64-team baseball tournament beginning next weekend.

The Tigers are one of five ACC teams named to host, joining Florida State, North Carolina, N.C. State and Virginia.

Five SEC teams also were named to host: Arkansas, Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas A&M

Other regional hosts are Arizona, East Carolina, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oregon State and UC Santa Barbara. Play begins on Friday.

Mississippi State was among the schools unsuccessfully lobbying to be a host. There also was some reaction of surprise on social media that East Carolina received a host bid after failing to reach the American Athletic Conference finals and having its RPI take a hit.

Clemson did not win the ACC Tournament, but earned at at-large bid on its strong body of work.

The seed position of the 16 hosts will be revealed Monday as part of the NCAA Selection Show at noon on ESPN2. The top eight seeds will be guaranteed of hosting a best-of-three super regional beginning June 6 if they survive the regional round, and most predictions have Clemson among the top eight. Seed pairings are 1-16, 2-15, 3-14, 4-13, 5-12, 6-11, 7-10 and 8-9.

Wofford earned an automatic bid to the tournament by winning the Southern Conference Tournament.

South Carolina is expected to receive an at-large  bid after a strong outing the SEC Tournament served as a course correction after a fade in the regular season. Most national predictions have the Gamecocks as a No. 2 seed at one of the ACC schools.

Coastal Carolina and College of Charleston are hopeful of receiving at-large bids.

Coastal was on target for regional host status with a 27-12 record before a late-season eight-game losing streak and a 1-2 performance in the Sun Belt Conference dropped the Chanticleers in the metrics. No call would mean the end of coach Gary Gilmore's successful coaching career, which included the 2016 College World Series title. Most national forecasters do not have Coastal getting an at-large bid.

College of Charleston won the CAA regular-season title, but lost to UNCW in the tournament finals. Most national forecasts do not include the Cougars in the field. Both CofC coach Chad Holbrook and UNCW coach Randy Hood were lobbying on Sunday for the CAA to be a two-bid league.

Big South Conference regular-season champion Presbyterian and USC Upstate apparently do not have the metrics necessary to be considered for an at-large berth.

The SEC is anticipating getting a record 11 teams in the 64-team field after several of its bubble teams had solid outings in the league tournament. Alabama and Florida would seem to be the most vulnerable. The ACC is believed to be in line for eight or nine bids, with Georgia Tech believed to be on the bubble for inclusion.

Arizona and Oregon State give the Pac-12 two host sites in the final season of its current alignment. Oregon State and Washington State are the only Pac-12 team remaining after league was cannibalized by the ACC, Big Ten and Big 12.

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