Pirates To Open Regionals at Clark-LeClair Stadium
May 24, 2009 | Baseball
May 24, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee announced 16 regional sites for the 63rd annual NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Sunday afternoon, and for the first time in facility history, East Carolina's Clark-LeClair Stadium will serve as a site for the opening round of The Road to Omaha.
Competition for the Greenville Regional will get underway on Friday, May 29 with a pair of games. The other teams who will make up the bracket will be released Monday at 12:30 p.m. on ESPN as part of the release of the 2009 NCAA Baseball tournament bracket. The NCAA will also announce the teams who have earned national seeds at that time.
Tickets for the Greenville Regional are on sale online at ECUPirates.com, or through the East Carolina Athletics Ticket Office for Pirate Club members and season ticket holders only.
Beginning at 9:00 a.m. Wednesday, sales open for the general public. All-session ticket books are available for $60, while tickets for single games, priced at $10, will go on sale on Friday. Tickets can be purchased in person or over the phone by calling (800) DIAL-ECU or (252) 737-4500 during normal business hours from Monday through Thursday.
While Clark-LeClair Stadium will welcome its first NCAA post-season event, East Carolina has hosted opening round regional tournaments on two prior occasions at different venues. The Pirates produced a 3-0 mark at Fleming Stadium during the Wilson Regional in 2001 before turning in a similar result at the Kinston Regional inside Grainger Stadium in 2004. Additionally, ECU used the Kinston facility when it hosted Tennessee for a Super Regional appearance in 2001.
The other 15 regional sites, including host institutions, are as follows: Atlanta, Ga. (Georgia Tech); Austin, Texas (Texas); Baton Rouge, La. (LSU); Chapel Hill, N.C. (North Carolina); Clemson, S.C. (Clemson); Fort Worth, Texas (TCU); Fullerton, Calif. (Cal State Fullerton); Gainesville, Fla. (Florida); Houston, Texas (Rice); Irvine, Calif. (UC-Irvine); Louisville, Ky. (Louisville); Norman, Okla. (Oklahoma); Oxford, Miss. (Ole Miss); Tallahassee, Fla. (Florida State) and Tempe, Ariz. (Arizona State).
By virtue of being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions have also been selected to the 64-team field. Cal State Fullerton, Clemson, East Carolina, Florida, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma and TCU have made the field as at-large selections.
For East Carolina, the selection marks the Pirates' 24th overall appearance in NCAA post-season play. ECU has qualified for regional competition in 10 of the last 11 seasons, which now includes a run of three straight after traveling to the Chapel Hill Regional in 2007 and the Conway (S.C.) Regional in 2008.
Arizona State (Pacific-10), UC Irvine (Big West), LSU (Southeastern), Louisville (Big East), Rice (Conference USA) and Texas (Big 12) clinched automatic berths by virtue of winning their conference tournament championships.
Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 29, to Monday, June 1.
Florida State is hosting for record 28th time, while this will be the 19th time that Arizona State and LSU have hosted a regional. Clemson (12th) is the only other institution to host 10 or more times since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975. Georgia Tech is hosting for the ninth time, while Cal St. Fullerton, Florida and Rice are hosting a regional for the eighth time. Mississippi and North Carolina are hosting for the fifth time.
Oklahoma is the host for the fourth time and East Carolina for the third time. Hosting for the first time are UC Irvine, Louisville and TCU. Six institutions (Arizona State, Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, LSU, North Carolina and Rice) also hosted in 2008.
Thirty Division I conferences receive an automatic berth in the field of 64, along with 34 at-large selections. The 63rd Men's College World Series begins play Saturday, June 13, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.
