Southeastern Conference lands five regional sites

This will be the 23rd time Florida State has hosted since 1975.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Defending College World Series champion Rice was one of 16 schools selected Sunday as regional site hosts for the NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
The Owls (42-12), with their highly touted trio of right-handers Jeff Niemann, Wade Townsend and Philip Humber -- all possible top 10 picks in next Monday's draft -- are hosting for the fourth time and attempting to become just the fifth repeat CWS winner.
The Southeastern Conference led the field with a record five regional hosts: Arkansas, Georgia, LSU, Mississippi and South Carolina.
"There were five very deserving teams that have regionals, and that's why they'll be hosting," Division I baseball committee chairman Charlie Carr said.
The Atlantic Coast Conference was second with three schools: Florida State, Georgia Tech and Virginia.
The other regional hosts are: Cal State Fullerton, East Carolina, Miami, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, Stanford and Texas.
Carr said host schools are determined by a number of factors, including win-loss record, conference standings and record in recent games.
Link
"The opportunity to host is driven by the success on the field, and this year, there has been a lot of success by teams across the country," said Carr, also the senior associate athletic director at Florida State. "All of these components go into what has become an increasingly difficult job for the committee."
Each of the 16 host schools are guaranteed berths in the 64-team tournament, which starts Friday. The rest of the field, including the top eight national seeds, will be announced by the committee today.
The regionals will be played on campus sites, except at East Carolina, which will be played at Grainger Stadium in Kinston, N.C., and at Oklahoma, which will be at Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.
Mississippi and Virginia are hosting regionals for the first time.
"It is something very much part of our criteria -- we enjoy finding new sites, and it spreads the game of college baseball," Carr said. "It's a fine line we walk and it's tough, but we are very much looking to expand our tournament wherever we can."
Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Rice, Stanford and Texas all were regional hosts last year. This will be the 23rd time Florida State has hosted since the inception of the regional format in 1975, and the 20th time for both Miami and Texas.
This helps
"Obviously, the prior history of hosting and success a team has does not go unnoticed," Carr said.
The four-team, double-elimination regionals will be played from June 4-6. The winners of each regional will advance to the super regionals, played June 11-13.
The eight winners of the super regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June 18 in Omaha, Neb.
"I can tell you how excited about the format we are," Carr said. "It has done great things for college baseball. We will continue to monitor it and the championship bracket, but it's pretty good the way it is."
Copyright 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.