Virginia, ranked as high as 11th in the national polls, was not selected as one of the 16 regional hosts for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.
Instead, the Cavs (42-14) will play in the Fort Worth Regional as the #2 seed, with that regional’s top seed, TCU (42-16), doubling as the #6 national seed.
UVA will open play in the double-elimination weekend regional at 4 p.m. Friday against the #3 seed in Fort Worth, Dallas Baptist (40-19).
The Virginia-Dallas Baptist game will air on ESPNU.
TCU plays the #4 seed, Central Connecticut State (36-20), at 9 p.m. Friday.
All games in the regional will be broadcast online on ESPN3. Television selections will be made following the conclusion of play each day.
The winner of the Fort Worth Regional will advance to play the champion of the Fayetteville Regional in an NCAA Super Regional June 9-12. The Fayetteville Regional consists of host Arkansas (42-17), Missouri State (40-17), Oklahoma State (30-25) and Oral Roberts (42-14).
The Horned Frogs have reached the College World Series in each of the past three seasons. Virginia and TCU met in the 2014 CWS, with the ‘Hoos outlasting the Frogs in a 15-inning classic on their way to a Championship Series loss to Vanderbilt.
UVA and TCU were on opposite sides of the bracket in 2015, the year that saw the Cavs win the program’s first national title.
Virginia had hosted regionals in nine of the previous 13 seasons, and seemed poised for a 10th hosting gig this year, but was left on the outside looking in as five other ACC schools (North Carolina, Louisville, Florida State, Clemson and Wake Forest) were selected as host sites.
Florida State (38-20) seemed to play itself into a top regional seed with its run to the ACC Tournament championship over the weekend after entering the final weeks of the season as a bubble tourney team in the eyes of some observers.
Clemson (39-19) might be the surprise team among the ACC hosts. The Tigers lost 11 of their last 12 in ACC play, including going 0-2 at the ACC Tournament, with a 10-2 loss to Virginia among that stretch of games.
UVA was likely done in by a weak nonconference schedule. Virginia finished 23-1 out of the ACC, but its nonconference schedule ranked just 238th among the 299 Division I teams.
Question marks surrounding the availability of starting pitchers Adam Haseley (7-1, 3.58 ERA) and Noah Murdock (3-1, 3.32 ERA) may have also factored into the seeding decision.
2017 NCAA Fort Worth Regional Schedule
(all times Eastern and subject to change)
Friday, June 2
Game 1 – No. 2 Virginia (42-14) vs. No. 3 Dallas Baptist (40-19), 4 p.m. (ESPNU)
Game 2 – No. 1 TCU (42-16) vs. No. 4 Central Connecticut State (40-19), 9 p.m. (ESPN3)
Saturday, June 3
Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 3 p.m.
Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 8 p.m.
Sunday, June 4
Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 4 p.m.
Game 6 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 9 p.m.
Monday, June 5
Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (if necessary), 7 p.m.
Team Information
Making its 14th appearance in the NCAA tournament in as many seasons under head coach Brian O’Connor, the Cavaliers are tournament-bound for the 17th time in program history. Virginia won its final six ACC series and went 22-7 since the start of April. The Cavaliers finished second in the ACC Coastal Division and boast one of the nation’s premier offenses. Virginia ranks fifth nationally in batting at .324 and has hit 60 home runs – fourth most in program history.
DBU (40-19, 15-6 MVC) won the Missouri Valley Conference championship Sunday with a 10-6 victory over Illinois State to earn the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. UVA has not played DBU previously.
An at-large selection to the tournament, No. 1 seed TCU (42-16, 16-8 Big 12) tied for the Big 12 regular-season championship with Texas Tech and went 23-4 at home this year. UVA and TCU have met just once previously, a 3-2 Virginia victory in 15 innings at the 2014 College World Series.
CCSU (36-20, 21-7 NEC) captured the Northeast Conference championship Sunday with a 6-3 win over Sacred Heart. Virginia and CCSU played a three-game series in Charlottesville in 2004 in O’Connor’s first season at UVA, with UVA sweeping the series. That series marks the lone games between the two teams.
Ticket Information
Tickets will initially be sold as All-Session reserved and general admission packages only. This package includes tickets to each game with a maximum of seven (7) possible games. Currently, they are available to season ticket holders only and must be purchased by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 31.
All-Session reserved prices are $60 each and $45 each for GA. This is a substantial savings as single game tickets—if available after expected high demand for All-Sessions—will not be sold until the first game and will be $20 and $15 each. All seats in Lupton Stadium will be sold as reserved seats, and General Admission will be in the outfield down the first base line and right field.
If all-session reserved seat packages remain, they will be available to the general public Thursday morning beginning at 8 a.m. atGoFrogs.com. Call 817-257-3764 to purchase your tickets.
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Chris Graham
