Sixteen teams representing seven conferences will host regionals in the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
Five Atlantic Coast Conference teams and four from the Southeastern Conference were chosen as hosts Sunday night. Last year, 13 of the 16 hosts were from the ACC and SEC.
Each of the host schools is guaranteed a spot in the 64-team tournament. The rest of the field, including the top eight national seeds, and pairings will be announced Monday. Regionals start Friday.
The ACC hosts are North Carolina, Louisville, Florida State, Clemson and Wake Forest. SEC hosts are LSU, Florida, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Oregon State and Stanford are hosts from the Pac-12, and Texas Tech and TCU are home teams in the Big 12.
TCU coach Jim Schlossnagle learned the Horned Frogs (42-16) will face Central Connecticut State (36-20) in their opening game in the NCAA baseball playoffs during a watch party on Monday morning in the Stuart Family Courtside Club at Schollmaier Arena.
The NCAA brackets were announced on ESPN2. TCU is among four teams that will play in the Fort Worth Regional, which begins Friday at Lupton Stadium on the TCU campus. The other two teams are Virginia (42-14), Dallas Baptist (40-19). Virginia and Dallas Baptist will play at 3 p.m. Friday (on ESPNU). The TCU and Central Connecticut State game begins at 8 p.m. Friday (streaming on ESPN3).
The four-team regional tournament can last up to four days if necessary (through Monday). It is a double elimination format.
The winner of the Fort Worth Regional will play the winner of the Fayetteville (Arkansas) Regionals in the Super Regionals (June 9-12). The four teams in that region are the host school, Missouri State, Oklahoma State and Oral Roberts.
–Brett Hoffman