Florida St. to host 35th NCAA regional; Stetson is 1st-timer

By Associated Press AP

PUBLISHED 1:46 PM ET May. 09, 2019

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Florida State will host a regional in the NCAA baseball tournament for the 35th time, while Stetson was selected as a first-time host Sunday.

The 16 teams announced as hosts have locked up spots in the national tournament, and the rest of the 64-team field will be unveiled Monday.

Each regional will be made up of four teams playing in a double-elimination format. All are scheduled from Friday through Monday. Regional winners advance to best-of-three super regionals, and those eight winners go on to the College World Series in Omaha.

Arkansas (39-18), Clemson (45-14), Florida (42-17), Florida State (43-17), North Carolina (38-18), Oregon State (44-10-1), Stanford (44-10) and Texas Tech (39-17) all hosted regionals in 2017.

Other regional sites are: Georgia (37-19), Texas (37-20), Coastal Carolina (42-17), East Carolina (43-16), Minnesota (41-13), Mississippi (46-15) and North Carolina State (40-16).

Florida State, which won its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title on Sunday, is a regional host for the eighth straight season and the 20th time in 22 seasons. Seminoles coach Mike Martin became the winningest baseball coach in NCAA history this season, but is still seeking his first national title.

Stetson (45-11) will be playing in its 19th regional, but is hosting for the first time after sweeping the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season and tournament championships. At 15 games, the Hatters own the nation's longest active win streak.

Florida, the top-ranked team most of the season and No. 1 in the RPI, will host for the ninth time in 11 seasons under coach Kevin O'Sullivan.

Minnesota, which swept the Big Ten regular-season and tournament titles, will play at home in the regionals for the first time since 2000.

Coastal Carolina, which failed to make the tournament last year after winning the national title in 2016, will host after winning the Sun Belt Conference regular-season and tournament championships.

Stanford won the Pac-12 under first-year coach David Esquer and along with Oregon State will be the only West Coast hosts.

Georgia returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and will be hosting for the first time since 2008. East Carolina is a host for the first time since 2009.