GREENSBORO, N.C. – Six Atlantic Coast Conference teams will be among the 64-team field when the 2018 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship gets underway this weekend.
ACC teams that are postseason bound are No. 6 North Carolina, No. 7 Florida State, No. 10 Clemson, No. 16 NC State, Duke, and Louisville.
The ACC has had at least six teams in the tournament for 15 straight years, and the announcement marks the ninth consecutive year that multiple league teams have earned top-eight seeds.
Four ACC squads – Clemson, Florida State, North Carolina, and NC State – will host regionals, tied for the most from any conference. The Seminoles, who earned the league’s automatic bid as the ACC Champion, will open tournament play on Friday against Samford. Also on Friday, the Tigers will play Morehead State, the Tar Heels will face North Carolina A&T, and the Wolfpack will take on Army West Point.
In addition to the four teams named as host sites on Sunday night, two more ACC squads earned at-large berths on Monday. Duke will travel to Athens, Georgia, and will face Troy on Friday, while Louisville will head to Lubbock, Texas, and play Kent State in its opener.
The Seminoles, who are making their 56th trip to the postseason, hold the longest active streak with 41 straight appearances in the tournament. Clemson has made 22 straight appearances and has earned the fifth-most bids all-time with 43, followed by North Carolina (31), NC State (30), Louisville (12), and Duke (7).
The regional sites featuring ACC teams will be played Friday through Monday, June 1-4. Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced on www.NCAA.com/cws, Tuesday, June 5 at approximately 8 a.m. (ET). The 72nd Men’s College World Series begins play Saturday, June 16, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Nebraska.
The regional format for the DI baseball championship is a double-elimination tournament format with the winning 16 teams advancing to Super Regionals, which will be held from June 8-11. The top eight teams remaining will host the Super Regionals on-campus in a best-of-three series with the eight winners advancing to Omaha.
The College World Series will be held from June 16-26/27 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. The eight Super Regional winners will compete in two four-team double elimination brackets. The two winning teams from each bracket will play in a best two-of-three championship series to determine the national champion.
Athens Regional hosted by Georgia
#2 Duke (40-15) vs. #3 Troy (41-19), 2 p.m., ESPN3
#1 *Georgia (37-19) vs. #4 Campbell (35-24), 7:30 p.m., ESPN3
Chapel Hill Regional hosted by North Carolina
#1 *North Carolina (38 - 18) vs. #4 N.C. A&T (32 - 23), 2 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Purdue (37 - 19) vs. #3 Houston (36 - 23), 7 p.m., ESPN3
Clemson Regional hosted by Clemson
#2 Vanderbilt (31 - 25) vs. #3 St. John's (NY) (39 - 15), Noon, SECN
#1 *Clemson (45 - 14) vs. #4 Morehead St. (37 - 24), 6 p.m., ESPN3
Lubbock Regional hosted by Texas Tech
#1 *Texas Tech (39 - 17) at #4 New Mexico St. (40 - 20), 2 p.m., ESPN3
#2 Louisville (43 – 17) vs. #3 Kent St. (39 – 6), 7 p.m., ESPN3
Raleigh Regional hosted by NC State
#2 Auburn (39 - 21) vs. #3 Northeastern (36 - 19), 2 p.m., ESPN3
#1 *NC State (40 - 16) vs. #4 Army West Point (36 - 22), 7 p.m., ESPN3
Tallahassee Regional hosted by Florida St.
#2 Mississippi St. (31 - 25) vs. #3 Oklahoma (36 - 23), Noon, ESPNU
#1 *Florida St. (43 - 17) vs. #4 Samford (36 - 24), 7 p.m., ESPNU