Baseball Heading To Tallahassee, Faces Tulane Friday
Monday, May 26, 2008 | Baseball
The University of Florida baseball team learned on Monday afternoon that it was awarded the second seed at the Tallahassee Regional for the 2008 NCAA Baseball Tournament that begins on Friday at Dick Howser Stadium. Making their 24th Regional appearance, first since 2005, the Gators (34-22) will face third-seeded Tulane (37-20-1) at 1 p.m. Top-seeded Florida State (48-10) will meet fourth-seeded Bucknell (29-22-1) at 7 p.m.
"We are very excited for the start of Regional play," first-year head coach Kevin O'Sullivan said. "Going to Tallahassee should be a good opportunity for our fans to come and support us. It will be a challenging field and we are looking forward to facing a talented Tulane team on Friday."
The Regional continues through Sunday, with a final game to be played Monday night, if necessary. The Tallahassee Regional winner will face the winner of the Stillwater Regional in a Super Regional series next weekend. The eight Super Regional winners advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
UF is 64-49 (.566) all-time in NCAA Tournament action and has reached the CWS five times: 1988, 1991, 1996, 1998 and 2005. The Gators are 1-0 against Tulane in NCAA play, most recently defeating the Green Wave at the 1988 East Regional held in Tallahassee. Florida has not encountered Bucknell in the postseason since posting a 7-0 win at the 1996 NCAA East Regional at McKethan Stadium.
The Gators have faced Florida State three times this season at three different sites and recorded a 1-2 mark. The Orange and Blue notched a 6-1 win in Gainesville on March 18 and fell to the Seminoles in Jacksonville on April 1 (10-2) and in Tallahassee on April 15 (4-2). The Sunshine State rivals last met in the postseason at the 2005 Gainesville Super Regional won by the hosts in two games.
| 2008 NCAA Tallahassee Regional Schedule |
| Friday, May 30 |
| Game 2: 1 p.m. - No. 2 FLORIDA (34-22) vs. No. 3 Tulane (37-20-1) |
| Game 1: 7 p.m. - No. 1 Florida State (48-10) vs. No. 4 Bucknell (29-22-1) |
| Saturday, May 31 |
| Game 3: 1 p.m. - Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 |
| Game 4: 7 p.m. - Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 |
| Sunday, June 1 |
| Game 5: 1 p.m. - Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 |
| Game 6: 7 p.m. - Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 |
| Monday, June 2 |
| Game 7: (if necessary) - 7 p.m. - Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 |
The national top eight seeds are Miami (Fla.) (47-8), North Carolina (46-12), Arizona State (45-11), Florida State (48-10), Cal State Fullerton (37-19), Rice (42-13), LSU (43-16-1) and Georgia (35-21-1).
The Southeastern Conference led all conferences in the number of teams in the championship field with nine, followed by the Atlantic Coast Conference and Big 12 with six. Conference USA and the Pacific-10 have five teams each, while the Big West has four.
Twenty-six of the 64 teams were not in the field last year. UC Davis (at-large), Dallas Baptist (at-large), Lipscomb (AQ) and Mount Saint Mary's (AQ), all are making the championship for the first time. Columbia last was in the field in 1976, while Rider and Eastern Michigan are in the field for the first time since 1994.
Miami (Fla.) is in the field for the 36th consecutive year, extending its own record. Florida State is making its 31st straight appearance, second all-time. Other long consecutive streaks: Cal State Fullerton (17), Rice (14) and Oral Roberts (11).
Of the 286 championship-eligible Division I institutions which sponsor baseball, Florida State has the most Division I wins with 48. Twenty-six other teams won at least 40 Division I contests and all but two, Canisius and Missouri State, are in the field.
Each of the 16 NCAA Regionals features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. The Regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 30, to Monday, June 2 (if necessary). Selection of the eight Super Regional hosts will be announced on www.ncaa.com, Monday, June 2, at approximately 11 p.m. The best two-of-three Super Regionals will be played from Friday, June 6, to Monday, June 8. The 62nd College World Series begins play Saturday, June 14, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
FIELD BY CONFERENCE
Southeastern: 9 (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Vanderbilt)
Atlantic Coast: 6 (Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami (Fla.), North Carolina, North Carolina State, Virginia)
Big 12: 6 (Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M)
Pacific-10: 5 (Arizona, Arizona State, California, Stanford, UCLA)
Conference USA: 5 (East Carolina, Houston, Rice, Southern Mississippi, Tulane)
Big West: 4 (UC Davis, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State)
Big East: 2 (Louisville, St. John's [N.Y.])
Colonial: 2 (UNC Wilmington, James Madison)
Sun Belt: 2 (New Orleans, Western Kentucky)
West Coast: 2 (Pepperdine, San Diego)
Atlantic Sun: 1 (Lipscomb)
Atlantic 10: 1 (Charlotte)
America East: 1 (Stony Brook)
Big South: 1 (Coastal Carolina)
Big 10: 1 (Michigan)
Horizon: 1 (Ill.-Chicago)
Independent: 1 (Dallas Baptist)
Ivy: 1 (Columbia)
Metro Atlantic: 1 (Rider)
Mid-American: 1 (Eastern Michigan)
Mid-Eastern: 1 (Bethune-Cookman)
Missouri Valley: 1 (Wichita State)
Mountain West: 1 (TCU)
Northeast: 1 (Mt. St. Mary's)
Ohio Valley: 1 (Eastern Illinois)
Patriot: 1 (Bucknell)
Southern: 1 (Elon)
Southland: 1 (Sam Houston State)
Southwestern: 1 (Texas Southern)
Summit: 1 (Oral Roberts)
Western Athletic: 1 (Fresno State)
FIELD BY STATE (24)
California: 10 (California, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Cal State Fullerton, Fresno State, Long Beach State, Pepperdine, San Diego, Stanford, UCLA)
Texas: 8 (Dallas Baptist, Houston, Rice, Sam Houston State, Texas, Texas A&M, TCU, Texas Southern)
North Carolina: 6 (Charlotte, East Carolina, Elon, North Carolina, UNC Wilmington, North Carolina State)
Florida: 4 (Bethune-Cookman, Florida, Florida State, Miami [Fla.])
Kentucky: 3 (Kentucky, Louisville, Western Kentucky)
Louisiana: 3 (LSU, New Orleans, Tulane)
New York: 3 (Columbia, St. John's [N.Y.], Stony Brook)
Oklahoma: 3 (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts)
Arizona: 2 (Arizona, Arizona State)
Georgia: 2 (Georgia, Georgia Tech)
Illinois: 2 (Eastern Ill., Ill.-Chicago)
Michigan: 2 (Eastern Michigan, Michigan)
Mississippi: 2 (Ole Miss, Southern Mississippi)
South Carolina: 2 (Coastal Carolina, South Carolina)
Tennessee: 2 (Lipscomb, Vanderbilt)
Virginia: 2 (James Madison, Virginia)
Alabama: 1 (Alabama)
Arkansas: 1 (Arkansas)
Kansas: 1 (Wichita State)
Maryland: 1 (Mt. State Mary's)
Missouri: 1 (Missouri)
Nebraska: 1 (Nebraska)
New Jersey: 1 (Rider)
Pennsylvania: 1 (Bucknell)
--UF--
