Nebraska will host one of 16 four-team regionals in the NCAA Div. I baseball tournament and will open the tournament with Eastern Illinois on Friday.
The 40-14-1 Huskers will face an Eastern Illinois team that finished the year under .500 (27-28) but won the Ohio Valley Conference tournament to earn the automatic bid. The two teams will square off at 1:05 p.m. at Haymarket Park as the first of two games in the four-team, double-elimination bracket.
The other first-round matchup should be interesting, as second seed UC Irvine (38-16) meets third-seeded Oral Roberts (46-12) in a 7:05 p.m. battle. UC Irvine had a storybook run to the College World Series last year and is one of the more dangerous No. 2 seeds in the field coming out of the Big West Conference. They will take on a solid Oral Roberts squad that finished as Summit League tournament champs to earn the automatic trip to the tournament.
The winner of this bracket will likely have a very steep mountain to climb in super regionals, as the winner will face the survivor of the Baton Rouge, La., regional, hosted by LSU. Odds are that the host Tigers -- winners of 20 consecutive games -- will be the team to come out of that regional, making a trip to Omaha for the Lincoln regional survivor a very tough ticket.
This is how the entire 64-team field looks:
Left Bracket
At Coral Gables, Fla. -- 1. Miami (47-8) vs. 4. Bethune Cookman (36-20), 2. Missouri (38-19) vs. 3. Ole Miss (37-24)
At Ann Arbor, Mich. -- 1. Arizona (38-17) vs. 4. Eastern Michigan (25-32), 2. Michigan (45-12) vs. 3. Kentucky (42-17)
At Raleigh, N.C. -- 1. North Carolina State (38-20) vs. 4. James Madison (38-17), 2. South Carolina (38-21) vs. 3. Charlotte (43-14)
At Athens, Ga. -- 1. Georgia (35-21-1) vs. 4. Lipscomb (32-28), 2. Georgia Tech (39-19) vs. 3. Louisville (41-19)
At Fullerton, Calif. -- 1. Cal State Fullerton (37-19) vs. 4. Rider (29-26), 2. UCLA (31-25) vs. 3. Virginia (38-21)
At Stanford, Calif. -- 1. Stanford (33-21-2) vs. 4. UC Davis (34-22), 2. Pepperdine (36-19) vs. 3. Arkansas (34-22)
At Stillwater, Okla. -- 1. Oklahoma State (42-16) vs. 4. Western Kentucky (33-25), 2. Wichita State (44-15) vs. 3. TCU (43-17)
At Tallahassee, Fla. -- 1. Florida State (48-10) vs. 4. Bucknell (29-22-2), 2. Florida (34-22) vs. Tulane (37-20-1)
Right Bracket
At Cary, N.C. -- 1. North Carolina (46-12) vs. 4. Mount St. Mary's (21-32), 2. UNC Wilmington (42-15-1) vs. 3. Elon (43-16)
At Conway, S.C. -- 1. Coastal Carolina (47-12) vs. 4. Columbia (22-28), 2. East Carolina (40-19) vs. 3. Alabama (34-26)
At Lincoln, Neb. -- 1. Nebraska (40-14-1) vs. 4. Eastern Illinois (27-28), 2. UC Irvine (38-16) vs. 3. Oral Roberts (46-12)
At Baton Rouge, La. -- 1. LSU (43-16-1) vs. 4. Texas Southern (16-32), 2. Southern Miss (40-20) vs. 3. New Orleans (42-19)
At Houston Texas -- 1. Rice (42-13) vs. 4. Sam Houston State (37-23), 2. Texas (37-20) vs. 3. St. John's (41-14)
At College Station, Texas -- 1. Texas A&M (43-16) vs. Illinois-Chicago (34-20), 2. Dallas Baptist (37-17) vs. 3. Houston (39-22)
At Long Beach, Calif. -- 1. Long Beach State (37-19) vs. 4. Fresno State (37-27), 2. San Diego (41-15) vs. 3. California (33-19-2)
At Tempe, Ariz. -- 1. Arizona State (45-11) vs. 4. Stony Brook (34-24), 2. Vanderbilt (40-20) vs. 3. Oklahoma (34-24-1)
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