Rice University Athletics
Rice Awarded NCAA Baseball Regional
5/29/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 29, 2011
The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee announced 16 regional sites for the 65th annual NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Sunday afternoon, and for the ninth time in the past 11 years, Rice's Reckling Park will serve as a site for the opening round of The Road to Omaha. The Owls defeated Houston 4-3 in 10 innings Saturday night to win the Conference USA Baseball Championship and earn C-USA's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship.
With Saturday's victory, Rice has now qualified for its 17th-consecutive NCAA Baseball Championship.
Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, June 3, to Monday, June 6.
The remaining at-large teams, top-eight national seeds, first-round regional pairings and site assignments will be announced at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN. The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the Men's College World Series, and will not release the field after play begins.
All-session passes for the Houston (Rice) Regional are $65 each and are currently on sale online by clicking the following link: Houston (Rice) Regional Ticket Link. First-time buyers to the Owls' ticketing system will have to create an account to complete their purchase after selecting their seat locations.
Tickets can also be ordered by calling (713) 522-OWLS or by visiting the Rice Athletic Ticket Office, which will be open from 9 a.m.-7 p.m. on Tuesday-Thursday. Single-game tickets will go on sale later in the week, pending availability.
The 16 regional sites, with host institutions and records are as follows: Atlanta (Georgia Tech, 40-19); Austin (Texas, 43-15); Fullerton, Calif. (Cal State Fullerton, 39-15); Chapel Hill, N.C. (North Carolina, 45-14); Charlottesville, Va. (Virginia, 48-9); Clemson, S.C. (Clemson, 41-18), College Station (Texas A&M, 41-18); Columbia, S.C. (South Carolina, 45-14); Corvallis, Ore. (Oregon State, 38-16); Fort Worth (TCU, 42-17); Gainesville, Fla. (Florida, 44-16); Houston (Rice, 41-19); Los Angeles (UCLA, 33-21); Nashville, Tenn. (Vanderbilt, 47-9); Tallahassee, Fla. (Florida State, 42-16); Tempe, Ariz. (Arizona State, 38-16).
Three institutions are hosting for the 20th time ore more as Florida State leads the list of schools with 28. Texas is hosting for the 26th time, while this will be the 21st time that Arizona State has hosted a regional. Clemson and South Carolina are hosting for the 13th time. Georgia Tech (11th), Cal State Fullerton (10th) are the other institutions to host 10 or more times since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975.
In addition to Rice hosting for the ninth time, Texas A&M is hosting a regional for the seventh time and North Carolina for the sixth time. Virginia is hosting for the fifth time, while Oregon State, TCU and UCLA are hosting for the third time. Rounding out the list is Vanderbilt, hosting for only the second time.
By virtue of being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions have also been selected to the 64-team field. Nine of the 16 regional hosts are vying for conference titles and their respective leagues' automatic bids today.
There are 30 Division I conferences which will receive an automatic berth in the field of 64, along with 34 at-large selections. The 65th Men's College World Series begins play Saturday, June 18, at the new TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Neb.
