Mississippi State To Host NCAA Regional May 30-June 1 At Dudy Noble Field
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STARKVILLE, Miss. -- Mississippi State University is among 16 schools selected to serve as first-round regional hosts in the 2003 NCAA Baseball Tournament, the NCAA announced Sunday.
"We're happy about being selected as a regional tournament host and anxious to see the rest of the tournament field and the seedings," said Mississippi State head coach Ron Polk. "It's a reward for our many fans and the hard work of our players and staff."
The four-team, double-elimination regionals begin Friday at the 16 campus sites nationwide. In addition to Mississippi State, SEC Western Division schools Auburn and Louisiana State were selected as hosts. The other host institutions include Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Long Beach State, Miami, Nebraska, North Carolina State, Southern Mississippi, Rice, Stanford, Texas and Texas A&M. The complete 64-team tournament bracket will be announced by the NCAA Monday at 11:30 a.m. (CDT) on ESPN2.
"Mississippi State has a tradition of hosting successful NCAA regional tournaments," added Polk. "The past regionals at Dudy Noble Field have had tremendous fan participation and great tournament administration, and both of those likely were big factors in Mississippi State getting chosen to host this year."
Dudy Noble Field has served as the site of 10 previous NCAA regional tournaments since 1979. Mississippi State University last hosted a regional in 2000 and has hosted regionals only twice (1997 and 2000) in the past 10 years.
Eight of the 16 regional hosts will be selected as "national seeds" and, by winning their regional tournaments, would serve as host to NCAA Super Regional competition, the final tournament stop on the road to Omaha, Neb., the site of the NCAA College World Series.
Mississippi State enters regional competition with a 40-18-1 record after posting a 2-2 mark and reaching the semifinals of the SEC Baseball Tournament May 22-24 in Hoover, Ala.