Ducks Heading East For NCAA Regional
EUGENE, Ore. – Oregon’s revival of baseball reached its peak on Monday when the Ducks received an at-large bid to the 2010 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship 64-team field.
The Ducks will travel this week to Norwich, Conn., for their third postseason berth in school history. Oregon, which reinstated its baseball program in 2009 after a 28-year dismissal, heads to the postseason for the first time since a trip to the District VIII playoffs in 1964.
Connecticut, the No. 2 seed for the Norwich Regional is the host, while Florida State is the No. 1 seed. The Ducks are the No. 3 seed, while Central Connecticut State is the No. 4 seed.
Oregon will play Connecticut in Game 2 on Friday, with the start time at 7 p.m. EST (4 p.m. PST).
This will be Oregon head coach George Horton’s 12th appearance in the postseason, after making 11 trips to the playoffs in his 11 years at the helm at Cal State Fullerton.
Horton totaled a 55-26 record in his 11 postseason appearances, advancing out of the regional round on seven occasions.
Oregon finished the 2010 season with an overall record of 38-22, and a mark of 13-14 in the Pac-10 Conference, tying for fifth in the league standings.
The Ducks won five Pac-10 series, and finished the year with a 7-4 record against top-25 teams. Oregon was an even 3-3 against teams with a No. 1 ranking, and won its series taking 2-of-3 games at No. 1 UCLA (April 16-18). In total, Oregon won nine series on the season – four of which came on the road.
The national top eight seeds are Arizona St. (47-8), Texas (46-11), Florida (42-15), Coastal Carolina (51-7), Virginia (47-11), UCLA (43-13), Louisville (48-12) and Georgia Tech (45-13).
The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC), Pacific-10 (Pac-10) and the Southeastern Conference led all conferences in the number of teams in the championship field with eight apiece. The marks for the ACC and the Pac-10 were conference all-time highs. The Big 12 had five and the Big East and Sun Belt had three teams.
Twenty-nine of the 64 teams were not in the field last year. Mercer, the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament champion, is making the championship for the first time. New Mexico last was in the field in 1962 and Oregon is in the field for the first time since 1964, and only two years after reinstating the baseball program.
Miami (Florida) is in the field for the 38th consecutive year, extending its own record. Florida State is making its 33rd straight appearance, second all-time. Other long consecutive streaks: Cal State Fullerton (19), Rice (16), Oral Roberts (13) and Texas (12).
THIS WEEK’S POSTSEASON BASEBALL ACTION
Site: 2010 NCAA Baseball Norwich Regional, Dodd Memorial Stadium, Norwich, Connecticut (Host – Connecticut)
Teams: No.10 Florida State, No. 17 Connecticut, Oregon, Central Connecticut State
Team Websites: http://www.seminoles.com/www.uconnhuskies.com/www.goducks.com/ www.ccsubluedevils.com
NCAA Tournament Website: www.NCAASports.com
Schedule
Friday, June 4
Game 1: No. 1 Florida State (42-17) vs. No. 4 Central Connecticut State (33-21), 2 p.m. EST
Game 2: No. 2 Connecticut (47-14) vs. No. 3 Oregon (38-22), 7 p.m. EST
Saturday, June 5
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 2 p.m. EST
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 6:30 p.m. EST
Sunday, May 6
Game 5: Loser Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 2 p.m. EST
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5, 6:30 p.m. EST
Monday, June 7
Game 7: Winner G6 vs. Loser G6 if nec, 7 p.m. EST
Updated 06-01-2010
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