CBB: Miami No. 1 seed for NCAA tournament; Oregon St. left out
By DENNIS WASZAK Jr.
AP Sports Writer
Miami was selected as the top seed for the 64-team Division I college baseball tournament today, while two-time defending champion Oregon State was left out of the field.
The Hurricanes (47-8), who won the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament for the first time, will host one of 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals that begin Friday. Miami, making its 36th straight tournament appearance to extend its NCAA record, was ranked No. 1 in various polls for the majority of the season and opens up against Bethune-Cookman (36-20).
Being the top seed hasn't necessarily guaranteed tournament success, as the only No. 1 to win the College World Series was the 1999 Hurricanes.
The other national seeds, in order, are: 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 winners of each regional will advance to the super regionals, played June 6-9. The eight winners of the super regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June 14 in Omaha, Neb.
Oregon State (28-24) did not receive an at-large bid, despite having five series wins against teams in the 64-team field, including Arizona, Arizona State and Georgia. The Beavers will not have a chance to join Southern California (1970-74) as the only schools to win three straight titles.
The Southeastern Conference led the tournament field with nine berths, tying its own NCAA record set in 2004 and matched in 2005: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, LSU, Ole Miss, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.
The ACC (Florida State, Georgia Tech, Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State and Virginia) and Big 12 (Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Texas A&M) each had six teams selected.
UC Davis, Dallas Baptist, Lipscomb and Mount St. Mary's are in the tournament for the first time, while Columbia is in the field for the first time since 1976. Dallas Baptist is the first independent other than Miami to be selected to tournament since Cal State Northridge in 1992.
