May 29, 2006

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The NCAA announced Monday afternoon the 64-member field for the 2006 Baseball Championship. The Atlantic Coast Conference tied the league record with seven teams earning a spot in this year's tournament, a mark set in 2005. The Clemson Tigers and Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets earned a pair of national seeds claiming the No. 1 and No. 8 overall seeds, respectively. Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, NC State and Virginia also made the tournament field and will look to become one of eight teams vying for a spot in Omaha, Nebraska at the College World Series.

As announced on Sunday, Clemson, Georgia Tech, North Carolina and Virginia will play host to a four-team regional which will begin Friday, June 2 and run through Monday, June 5.

In 2005, four of the seven ACC schools that made the 64-team field reached the Super Regionals (Clemson, Florida State, Georgia Tech and Miami). The ACC is looking to return to the College World Series for the first time since 2002 when both Clemson and Georgia Tech made it to Omaha. Last year, the ACC posted a 15-15 tournament record.

Clemson, who earned the No. 1 overall national seed, will welcome Elon, Mississippi State and UNC Asheville to Clemson, S.C. The Tigers, who captured their ninth ACC Championship with an 8-4 win over NC State on Sunday, will open regional play against UNC Asheville, winners of the Big South Conference. Clemson enters the tournament with a record of 47-14 and winners of 19 of its last 20 games.

As the No. 8 national seed, Georgia Tech will play host to Vanderbilt, Michigan and Stetson. The Yellow Jackets reached the ACC semifinals and finished the regular season with a mark of 45-16, will square-off against Stetson, winners of the Atlantic Sun Conference title.

The North Carolina Tar Heels are hosting for just the second time in school history and for the first time since 1983. The Tar Heels will open regional play against the Black Bears of Maine, who claimed the America East Baseball Championship. Also making the trek to Chapel Hill, N.C. will be Winthrop and UNC Wilmington.

For the second time in three years, the Virginia Cavaliers will play host to an NCAA Regional. With a regular season record of 46-13, the Cavaliers will open the tournament against Patriot League champs, Lehigh. South Carolina and Evansville comprise the remaining two teams in the Charlottesville regional.

Florida State, Miami and NC State each received No. 2 seeds in their respective regional and will open on the road. The Seminoles will travel to Athens, Ga. where they will face off against Jacksonville University for the fifth time this season. FSU has won all four contests against the Dolphins this year. Miami will travel to Lincoln, Neb., where they will play San Francisco, an at-large representative out of the West Coast Conference. 2006 ACC runner-up NC State will head south and play Stanford in the Austin, Texas regional.

NCAA Regional Match-ups

Friday-Monday, June 2-5, 2006

at Clemson, S.C.
#1 Clemson (47-14 - ACC Automatic) vs. #4 UNC Asheville (28-33 - Big South Automatic)
#2 Elon (44-16 - Southern At-Large) vs. #3 Mississippi State (35-21 - SEC At-Large)

at Atlanta, Ga.
#1 Georgia Tech (45-16 - ACC At-Large) vs. #4 Stetson (38-22 - Atlantic Sun Automatic)
#2 Vanderbilt (36-25 - SEC At-Large) vs. #3 Michigan (42-19 - Big Ten Automatic)

at Chapel Hill, N.C.
#1 North Carolina (45-13 - ACC At-Large) vs. #4 Maine (35-20-1 - America East Automatic)
#2 Winthrop (44-16 - Big South At-Large) vs. #3 UNC Wilmington (41-20 - Colonial Automatic)

at Charlottesville, Va.
#1 Virginia (46-13 - ACC At-Large) vs. #4 Lehigh (28-26 - Patriot Automatic)
#2 South Carolina (37-22 - SEC At-Large) vs. #3 Evansville (40-20 - Missouri Valley Automatic)

at Athens, Ga.
#1 Georgia (41-19 - SEC At-Large) vs. #4 Sacred Heart (26-28 - Northeast Automatic)
#2 Florida State (42-19 - ACC At-Large) vs. #3 Jacksonville (42-17 - Atlantic Sun At-Large)

at Lincoln, Neb.
#1 Nebraska (42-15 - Big 12 At-Large) vs. #4 Manhattan (32-21 - Metro Atlantic Automatic)
#2 Miami (36-21 - ACC At-Large) vs. #3 San Francisco (38-21 - West Coast At-Large)

at Austin, Texas
#1 Texas (40-19 - Big 12 At-Large) vs. #4 Texas-Arlington (29-34 - Southland Automatic)
#2 NC State (38-21 - ACC At-Large) vs. #3 Stanford (30-25 - Pac-10 At-Large)