SEC, ACC combine for 13 of 16 NCAA baseball tourney sites
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NEW YORK (AP) - The Southeastern Conference and Atlantic Coast Conference will feel right at home on the road to Omaha.
Texas A&M, Florida and LSU lead a pack of an NCAA-record seven SEC schools chosen Sunday night as regional hosts for the Division I baseball tournament. Defending national champion Virginia is among six ACC schools -- setting a conference mark -- that will host a four-team regional, giving college baseball's two most powerful conferences 13 of the 16 sites in the 64-team tournament that starts next week.
Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt are the other SEC schools selected, with Clemson, Florida State, Louisville, Miami and North Carolina State the other ACC programs.
Each of the host schools are guaranteed spots in the tournament, with the rest of the field, including the top eight national seeds, and pairings to be announced Monday.
The Big 12 had two schools selected as hosts in TCU and Texas Tech, and Louisiana-Lafayette of the Sun Belt is the other host site.
The winners of the 16 regionals advance to the super regionals. The eight super regional winners will play in the College World Series, which begins June 18 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Texas A&M (45-14) is hosting for the 11th time in school history after winning the SEC Tournament and being ranked No. 1 in several national polls during the season.
This will be the 33rd time Florida State (37-20) will host since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975 as the Seminoles seeks their first College World Series title. Miami (27), LSU (24) and South Carolina (17) have also been frequent regional hosts.
Florida (47-13), which lost to Texas A&M in the SEC title game, has spent several weeks at the top of national polls throughout the season and is hosting for the 14th time.
ACC champion Clemson (42-18) will play host to a regional for the 13th time, as will Mississippi State (41-16).
This will be the third time for Louisiana-Lafayette (41-19), winners of three straight Sun Belt Tournament titles.
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