Five Big XII Teams Make Field of 64

Five Big XII schools received their invitations on Monday to compete in the 2010 NCAA baseball tournament with the goal of making it to Omaha and the College World Series. Texas and Oklahoma will remain at home for the upcoming weekend while Texas A&M, Kansas State, and Baylor all hit the road for regional play.

Texas grabbed the number two national seed as regional play begins Friday. They may have cost themselves a number one seed by going 0 for 3 in the Big XII tournament over the weekend. Assuming Coach Augie Garrido’s crew snaps back to form this weekend, the Longhorns’ three game slide won’t even be a blip on the screen of the overall season that saw the team win the Big XII regular season title by a whopping eight games. Texas welcomes opening round opponent Rider as well as Louisiana-Lafayette and Rice to the Austin regional.

Oklahoma’s strong showing in May landed them a spot as host in what will likely be a very competitive regional. If nothing else, it is destination diverse as North Carolina and California make flight plans to be in the Norman regional. OU’s opening foe, Oral Roberts, gets the short bus trip from Tulsa to face the Sooners. OU head coach Sunny Galloway is very familiar with the Golden Eagles as he restored that program to D-I prominence before rejoining the Sooners’ coaching staff in 2004. North Carolina has been off for two weeks, as the Tar Heels did not qualify for the ACC tourney.

Big XII tournament champions Texas A&M will be looking to take their hot streak into steamy Coral Gables, Florida. The Aggies will play in the regional hosted by Miami as the #2 seed in the region. A&M’s opponent will be Florida International. That game will garner national attention, as FIU’s Garrett Wittels will take his 54 game hitting streak into regional play. Wittels is only four games short of the Division-I record of 58 set by Oklahoma State’s Robin Ventura in 1987. The Coral Gables regional will be televised on ESPNU for the entire weekend. The Aggies’ game with FIU is an 11am start on Friday, June 4.

Baylor, Big XII tourney runners-up, will get the short trip from Waco to Ft. Worth to play in the regional hosted by TCU. The Bears open play against Arizona of the PAC-10. Arizona has lost nine of its last thirteen games while Baylor has won 9 of its last 13 dating back to the Texas series in early May. Assuming Baylor plays TCU at some point in the regional, the Bears split their season series with the Mountain West Conference champs. TCU opens with Lamar in the first round.

Kansas State hits the road for Fayetteville, Arkansas in the region hosted by the Razorbacks. K-State takes on Washington State in the opening round of play. Arkansas and Grambling round out the field. Arkansas finished second in the murderous SEC West and get set to play a Grambling team that is one of only two in the national field to have a losing record. If Kansas State can make it out of northwest Arkansas alive they will be likely rewarded with a desert trip to Arizona State and a super regional against the number one national seed.

The winner of the Austin regional will play the winner of the Ft. Worth regional in super regional action next week. That creates a possibility of a Texas-Baylor rematch. If Oklahoma can survive the Norman regional they will play the winner of the Charlottesville (Va.) regional with a likely opponent of either Virginia or Ole’ Miss. A Texas A&M regional title could mean an extended stay in the state of Florida as they would play the winner of the Gainesville regional hosted by the number three national seed Florida.

The five Big XII spots taken in the field of 64 were the fourth highest conference total this year. The ACC, SEC, and PAC-10 each placed eight teams on the Road to Omaha.

Texas is seeking its 34th trip to Omaha (most ever in the NCAA) and its seventh national title, putting them second all-time only behind USC’s twelve national crowns. The Longhorns were in the national title series last season, losing to LSU, and last won the title in 2005. Oklahoma will be looking for their first trip to Omaha since 1995. The Sooners last won a national title, their second overall, in 1994 as a member of the Big 8. Sunny Galloway was an assistant coach for the Sooners in ’94 and ’95. Baylor was last at Rosenblatt Stadium in 2005 and is hoping for their fourth trip overall. Texas A&M last came to the banks of the Mississippi River in 1999 and has made four appearances. Kansas State has never been to the College World Series .

If last weekend’s topsy-turvy conference tournaments are any indication of what to expect, there should be some very interesting and entertaining regional play ahead.

National Top Eight Seeds

1. Arizona State (47-8)

2. Texas (46-11)

3. Florida (42-15)

4. Coastal Carolina (51-7)

5. Virginia (47-11)

6. UCLA (43-13)

7. Louisville (48-12)

8. Georgia Tech (45-13)

By: Jay Kelley
Big 12 Sports-Fans Staff Writer