Diamond Dogs Earn 32nd NCAA Bid; Headed To Tallahassee Regional
STARKVILLE, Miss. - Southeastern Conference tournament champion Mississippi State begins its 2012 NCAA postseason competition in Tallahassee, Fla., this week, taking on Southern Conference champion and third-seeded Samford (39-21) Friday in the opening round of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional hosted by No. 3 national seed Florida State.
The opening round "battle of the Bulldogs" is set for 11 a.m. (CDT) at Dick Howser Stadium. Host Florida State (43-15) takes on Conference USA tournament champ UAB (32-28) in 5 p.m. (CDT) nightcap of Friday's opening round competition. All games in the tournament will be televised on ESPN3.com, with Saturday's second game also being televised by ESPN2. All of MSU's postseason games will be broadcast on the MSU Baseball Radio Network.
"We are looking forward to traveling to Tallahassee and playing in one of the great atmospheres for college baseball," said MSU head baseball coach John Cohen. "It's a new season, and you can't really look at what has happened in recent weeks. But our kids feel like they are on a roll and playing well, and that's what you like to have at this time of the year. We had an incredible gathering of our fans at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., last week, and with many Bulldog fans living near Tallahassee, we would love to see a lot of Mississippi State maroon in the stands."
This will be the second straight and fourth NCAA tournament advancement overall over the past seven years for Cohen, who guided Kentucky to postseason berths in 2006 and 2008.
The Bulldogs blanked Vanderbilt 3-0 Sunday before a sun-drenched Mississippi State-dominated 12,529 fans at Regions Park in Hoover, Ala., capping a 5-1 run to the 2012 SEC Baseball Tournament championship. Shortstop Adam Frazier (.376) piled up 12 hits en route to SEC Tournament MVP honors while the Bulldog pitching staff fashioned a 1.96 earned run average over 55 innings. Freshman outfielder Demarcus Henderson and freshman relief pitcher Jonathan Holder joined Frazier on the all-tournament team.This is Mississippi State's 26th advancement to NCAA regional competition and 32nd overall to NCAA postseason competition dating back to 1949. Coach John Cohen guided the Bulldogs to a 3-0 sweep in the Atlanta Regional and on to the finals of the NCAA Gainesville Super Regionals in 2011
Mississippi State is making its third NCAA Tournament visit to Dick Howser Stadium, having played there in the 1993 NCAA East Regional and in the 2007 NCAA Tallahassee Regional. The Bulldogs were eliminated in two games in their first NCAA tourney visit to Tallahassee, but in 2007 MSU defeated Stetson and Florida State (twice) to ignite a postseason run that ended with the program's eighth advancement to the College World Series in Omaha, Neb.
The winner of the Tallahassee Regional will be paired in an NCAA Super Regional with the winner of the NCAA Palo Alto (Calif.) Regional featuring Fresno State, Michigan State, Pepperdine and host Stanford.
NCAA Tallahassee Regional Schedule
Friday, June 1, 2012
Game 1: Mississippi State vs. Samford - 12:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 2: Florida State vs. UAB - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, June 2, 2012
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 - 12:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 7:00 p.m. (ESPN2)
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 - 12:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
Monday, June 4, 2012
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary) - 6:00 p.m. (ESPN3)
**All game times are Eastern and subject to change**
NCAA Tallahassee Regional Ticket Prices
Tournament passes are $50.00 for reserved seats and $35 for general admission seats. These are good for every game of the tournament. Single game reserved seats are $12.00 with general admission tickets priced at $10.00 for adults, $7.00 for youth and students. The stadium will be cleared at the end of each game.
All-Tournament Books for the 2012 NCAA Baseball Tallahassee Regional ($50 for reserved seats and $35 for general admission seats) will go on sale Tuesday, May 29, at 8:30 a.m. ET via the Internet at www.seminoles.com. Tickets will also be available by phone at 888-FSU-Nole and at the Seminole Athletics Ticket Office between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. (ET) Tuesday through Thursday.
Single game tickets for the Friday sessions ONLY will go on sale via the web (www.seminoles.com) beginning at 6:00 p.m. ET Thursday. In person and phone sales of single game tickets for Friday's games will begin at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday. Single game tickets for games on subsequent days will go on sale on the web immediately following the last game of the previous day and at Dick Howser Stadium two hours prior to the start of the first game.