June 2, 2003
INDIANAPOLIS - The eight super-regional hosts have been announced today by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee.
The following are the super-regional pairings, with updated records through the regionals in parenthesis. Six of the eight national seeds advanced to the super regionals and their national seed is indicated before the team name. Local game times are listed immediately under the pairings.
Over 30 hours of super regional television will be provided by ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN syndication. Consult local listings for specific games shown in each area of the country. All 16 to 24 super regional games also are available through ESPN's College Grand Slam subscription package on many cable systems and satellite providers.
The following four best-of-three super regionals will be played on Friday, June 6, Saturday, June 7, and Sunday, June 8 (if necessary). The four winners will open College World Series play on Friday, June 13.
Baylor (44-21) at No. 2 Louisiana State (43-19-1)
6:05 p.m., 11:35 a.m., 1:35 p.m.
Arizona State (53-12) at No. 7 California State, Fullerton (46-13)
4:05 p.m., 12:05 p.m., 12:05 p.m.
Long Beach State (41-18) at No. 6 Stanford (44-15)
7:05 p.m., 5:05 p.m., 3:05 p.m.
North Carolina (42-21) at South Carolina (42-20)
3:05 p.m., 12:35 p.m., 3:05 p.m. or 6:05 p.m.
The following four best-of-three super regionals will be played Saturday, June 7, Sunday, June 8, and Monday, June 9 (if necessary). The four winners will play their first Omaha games on Saturday, June 14.
Texas (46-18) at No. 1 Florida State (54-11-1)
8:05 p.m., 6:05 p.m., 1:05 p.m.
North Carolina State (45-16) at No. 8 Miami (Fla.) (42-15-1)
12:05 p.m., 2:35 p.m., 1:05 p.m.
Houston (36-28) at No. 5 Rice (51-10)
6:05 p.m., 2:05 p.m., 12:05 p.m.
Southwest Missouri State (38-24) at Ohio State (44-19)
8:05 p.m., 6:05 p.m., 1:05 p.m.
All starting times listed are local times for that site.
Four of last year's CWS participants can return to Omaha, including defending national champion Texas and national runnerup South Carolina. Rice also played in Omaha last year and Stanford is trying for its fifth consecutive trip to the championship. Both Houston and Ohio State last appeared in Omaha in 1967, while North Carolina State's only appearance was 1968. Baylor made its last CWS appearance in 1978 and North Carolina competed in 1989. Southwest Missouri State never has played in the College World Series. The other six super regional participants and their last CWS appearance follow: Arizona State (1998), Long Beach State (1998), Florida State (2000), Louisiana State (2000), California State, Fullerton (2001) and Miami (Fla.) (2001).
The pairings above are listed in the order in which the winners will be paired in the first round of the championship (i.e. Louisiana State winner plays California State, Fullerton winner in the first round at Omaha). The determination of the order of first-round games on both Friday, June 13, and Saturday, June 14, will be announced next Monday, June 9, at 7 p.m. Central time.
The 57th College World Series begins play Friday, June 13, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.