Milwaukee Headed To Arizona For NCAA Baseball Regional Contests

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee baseball team found out its destination for the NCAA Tournament Monday, as it now knows it will head west to Arizona and participate in the four-team regional hosted by Arizona State. The Panthers, ranked No. 4 in the regional, will take on the host Sun Devils. Not only is ASU ranked No. 1 in the regional, but is also the top seed for the 64-team NCAA Division I college baseball tournament and No. 1 in most polls. Rounding out the regional field - which will be played at Winkles Field-Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark on the ASU campus June 4 through June 7 - is San Diego, ranked No. 2, and Hawai'i, which is the No. 3 seed in the event.

"We knew coming into this that whoever we were going to play was going to be a very good opponent," UWM head coach Scott Doffek said. "Arizona State is at the top of the polls right now, so what a great challenge for our guys. We are going to come out and treat each game just like the last one. Execute each pitch and see what the outcome is at the end."

The Panthers (33-24) have recent history against two of the three regional opponents. They opened the 2009 season against the Sun Devils (47-8), who won the Pac-10 title in 2010. Ranked No. 6 at the time (Feb. 20-22, 2009), ASU handed UWM an 0-4 start to the campaign. Milwaukee also made the long haul to Hawai'i in March of 2007, dropping four games on the trip. The Rainbow baseball team (33-26) won the Western Athletic Conference Tournament this past weekend. The Panthers and San Diego (36-20) have never met on the baseball diamond.

"I don't know a lot about them," Doffek said of Hawaii and San Diego. "I know they are very good programs. We played Hawaii a few years ago but have really lost touch with keeping up with them. We are really going to have to go into detail and find some things."

The Panthers take on the Sun Devils in their regional opener under the lights Friday, starting at 9 p.m. CST. That will be the second game of the day, following Hawai'i and San Diego playing at 4 p.m. CST. The losers of those two games play Saturday at 4 p.m. CST, with the winners of the first two contests playing at 9 p.m. CST Saturday.