For the 12th straight season, the Virginia baseball team has been selected to compete in the NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers (34-22) will compete in the NCAA Lake Elsinore Regional beginning Friday in Lake Elsinore, Calif., and play Southern California (37-19) at 6 p.m. ET in a first-round game.
UC Santa Barbara (40-15-1) and San Diego State (40-21) complete the regional field. UCSB is the region’s top seed and will host the event at Lake Elsinore Diamond, home of the Lake Elsinore Storm, the high-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres. USC holds the regional’s two-seed, while UVa is the three-seed and SDSU the four-seed.
Following the UVa-USC game Friday, USCB and SDSU will play at 10 p.m. ET. The regional will continue with doubleheaders at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. If necessary, a second regional final would be played at 9 p.m. Monday.
All games in the regional will be broadcast online on ESPN3. Ticket information through UCSB and the Lake Elsinore Storm will be announced soon.
Virginia currently has the sixth-longest NCAA tournament streak among teams in Division I baseball, behind only Miami (43), Florida State (38), Cal State Fullerton (24), Rice (21) and Arkansas (14).
The winner of the Lake Elsinore Regional will advance to play the champion of the Los Angeles Regional in an NCAA Super Regional June 5-7 or 6-8. The Los Angeles Regional consists of host UCLA, Ole Miss, Maryland and Cal State Bakersfield.
2015 NCAA Lake Elsinore Regional Schedule (all times Eastern)
Friday, May 29
Game 1 – No. 2 USC vs. No. 3 Virginia, 6 p.m.
Game 2 – No. 1 UCSB vs. No. 4 San Diego State, 10 p.m.
Saturday, May 30
Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 6 p.m.
Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 10 p.m.
Sunday, May 31
Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 6 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 10 p.m.
Monday, June 1
Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary), 9 p.m.
Team Information
Virginia enters the tournament with a 34-22 record, including a 15-15 mark in ACC play. The Cavaliers won three of their final four ACC series, including a home series win over Miami and a sweep at North Carolina to cap the regular season. UVa owns five regional championships – all in the last six seasons – and has advanced to three College World Series since 2009.
Virginia and USC will be playing for the first time. The Trojans finished in a three-way tie for third place in the Pac-12 Conference with Arizona State and California. Twelve-time national champions, the Trojans own their best regular-season record since 2001 and are appearing in their first NCAA tournament since 2005.
UCSB is hosting a regional for the first time after finishing second to Cal State Fullerton in the Big West Conference. The Gauchos boast one of the nation’s top pitchers, Dillon Tate, who is a semifinalist for the Golden Spikes Award. UCSB leads the Big West in batting (.291), ERA (2.39) and fielding (.977). The Cavaliers and Gauchos have not met previously.
San Diego State won the Mountain West tournament championship Sunday with a 6-4 victory over New Mexico as the Aztecs will make their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament. Catcher Seby Zavala was named the MVP at the conference tournament Sunday. The Cavaliers and Aztecs have met once previously, a 5-1 UVa win in 2009 in the NCAA Irvine Regional.
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