UIC heads west (to Long Beach) for NCAA baseball regional
May 28, 2007
Chicago, Ill.- The UIC baseball team will open its third NCAA Division I Baseball Championship appearance at the NCAA Regional hosted by Long Beach State in Long Beach, Calif. this weekend.
The Flames (34-19), who earned an automatic berth to the Big Dance as a result of winning the 2007 Horizon League Baseball Championship on Saturday, were seeded fourth in the regional and will play the host and top-seeded Dirtbags (37-18) at Blair Field this Friday, June 1st beginning at 7:00 p.m. Pacific time.
UCLA (30-26) and Pepperdine (35-20), seeded second and third, respectively, will also compete in the NCAA Long Beach Regional. The Waves and the Bruins will play at 3:00 p.m. Pacific prior to the Flames' game against the Dirtbags.
Games on Saturday are also scheduled for 3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Pacific in the double-elimination regional. Sunday's slate will be at 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Pacific, and, if necessary, a contest on Monday will take place at 6:00 p.m. Pacific.
UIC is very familiar with Long Beach State, as the two teams squared off in a three-game series last season. The then-No. 17 Dirtbags took the series over the Flames from Feb. 24-26, 2006 at Blair Field during UIC's 16-game road swing to start that season.
The Long Beach Regional is paired with the San Diego Regional. No. 8 national seed San Diego (43-16), Cal State Fullerton (33-23), Minnesota (40-16) and Fresno State (36-27) are featured in that regional, with the winners of the Long Beach Regional and the San Diego Regional meeting in NCAA Super Regional action from June 8-10 or June 9-11.
The Flames have won six consecutive Horizon League regular season titles and three of the last five Horizon League tournament crowns. UIC earned its first-ever NCAA Tournament bid in 2003 at the Palo Alto Regional hosted by No. 6 national seed Stanford, and the Flames returned to the NCAA Regionals at the 2005 Lincoln Regional against No 3 national seed Nebraska.
This marks the first NCAA postseason trip that UIC has not faced a Top 8 national seed in regional play.
