UIC to Play in Hattiesburg Baseball Regional

INDIANAPOLIS (Courtesy UIC Media Relations– Fresh off the fifth Horizon League Tournament championship in program history, the UIC Flames learned their next destination late Monday morning. The Flames, participating in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008, will begin the 2017 edition at the Hattiesburg Regional in Hattiesburg, Miss.

In addition to regional host Southern Mississippi (48-14, 24-6 Conference USA), UIC (39-15, 22-8 Horizon League) will be joined by Mississippi State (36-24, 17-13 SEC) and South Alabama (39-19, 22-8 Sun Belt). The Flames open the tournament on Friday, June 2 at 1 p.m. CT against the Southern Miss Golden Eagles.

This is UIC's fifth foray into the field of 64 under the direction of head coach Mike Dee, and the first since 2008. The Flames participated in the Palo Alto Regional, the first in program history, in 2003. UIC played in the Lincoln Regional in 2005 before heading to Long Beach and College Station in back-to-back seasons in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Dee's squad has won at least one game in each of its last two Regional appearances, defeating Dallas Baptist in 2008 and Long Beach State in 2007.

USM is hosting for the first time since 2003. The full schedule for the Hattiesburg Regional, which will be played at Pete Taylor Park/Hill Denson Field, is below:

The game schedule is as follows (all times CT):

Friday, June 2
Game 1: #1 Southern Miss vs. #4 UIC – 1 p.m. (ESPN3)
Game 2: #2 Mississippi State vs. #3 South Alabama – 6 p.m.

Saturday, June 3
Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 - 1 p.m.
Game 4 : Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 - 6 p.m.

Sunday, June 4
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 - 1 p.m.
Game 6 : Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 - 6 p.m.

Monday, June 5
Game 7: If necessary, - 6 p.m.