The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Selected As NCAA Baseball Regional Host
5/30/2004 | Baseball
May 30, 2004
OXFORD, Miss. - Ole Miss' potential road to the College World Series will begin in its own back yard as the NCAA announced Sunday that the Rebels will serve as hosts to one of 16 regional sites for the first round of the 2004 NCAA Tournament, scheduled to begin next Friday. It will mark Ole Miss' first-ever time as a regional host, and it will be the Rebels' 10th all-time NCAA appearance.
Tickets for the 2004 NCAA Oxford Regional can be purchased through the Ole Miss Athletic Ticket Office, located at the Tad Smith Coliseum. The ticket office windows at the Tad Smith Coliseum will be open Memorial Day from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m. Phone orders can be placed starting Tuesday at 8 a.m., by calling the Ole Miss Athletic Ticket Office at (662) 915-7167, or toll free in-state at 888-732-8587.
Tournament books for reserved box seats are $65, while tournament books reserved grandstand and outfield terrace are $50. The tournament books include tickets for all six games of the regional and for game 7 if necessary.
Ole Miss (39-19) was one of five Southeastern Conference teams to be awarded a regional. Arkansas (39-21), Georgia (38-20), LSU (41-17) and South Carolina (44-15) also were awarded regionals.
"Obviously, we're extremely happy to have been selected as a regional host," said Ole Miss Head Coach Mike Bianco. "I'm happy and very proud for our players, as this is something that they are very deserving of based on what they did throughout the season.
"I'm also very proud of our fans. You never know what criteria the selection committee may use to put you over the edge in deciding on who hosts, but our fans did a great job all year of coming out to games. The last two SEC home weekends against Arkansas and LSU helped show that Swayze Field can be a great atmosphere for college baseball."
Other schools selected as regional hosts include: Cal State Fullerton (Big West), East Carolina (Conference USA), Florida State (Atlantic Coast), Georgia Tech (Atlantic Coast), Miami, Fla. (Independent), Notre Dame (Big East), Oklahoma (Big 12), Rice (Western Athletic), Stanford (Pacific 10), Texas (Big 12) and Virginia (Atlantic Coast).
Virginia joins Ole Miss as first-time host sites, while eight schools (Cal State Fullerton, Florida State, Georgia Tech, LSU, Miami, Rice, Stanford and Texas) also hosted in 2003.
All regionals are campus sites except East Carolina and Oklahoma. East Carolina will host its regional at Grainger Stadium in Kinston, N.C.,, home of the Class A Kinston Indians of the Carolina League, while Oklahoma will hold its regional at the SBC Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, home of the Triple A Oklahoma City Redhawks of the Pacific Coast League.
The entire 64-team field, along with the top eight national seeds, first-round pairings and site assignments will be announced Monday at 11 a.m., during a live, half-hour program on ESPN2. The committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the College World Series.
The committee will not reseed the field after play begins. Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced Sunday, June 6, live on ESPN's SportsCenter during the 10 p.m., CDT telecast.
The 58th College World Series will begin Friday, June 18 at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.
16 NCAA FIRST-ROUND REGIONAL SITESSite (Host School, Record) ConferenceFayetteville, Ark. (Arkansas, 39-21) SoutheasternFullerton, Calif. (Cal State Fullerton, 36-20) Big WestKinston, N.C. (East Carolina, 48-11) Conference USATallahassee, Fla. (Florida State, 41-20) Atlantic CoastAthens, Ga. (Georgia, 38-20) SoutheasternAtlanta, Ga. (Georgia Tech, 41-18) Atlantic CoastBaton Rouge, La. (LSU, 41-17) SoutheasternCoral Gables, Fla. (Miami, Fla., 44-11) IndependentOxford, Miss. (Ole Miss, 39-19) SoutheasternSouth Bend, Ind. (Notre Dame, 49-10) Big EastOklahoma City, Okla. (Oklahoma, 37-22) Big XIIHouston, Texas (Rice, 42-12) Western AthleticColumbia, S.C. (South Carolina, 44-15) SoutheasternPalo Alto, Calif. (Stanford, 44-11) Pacific 10Austin, Texas (Texas, 50-13) Big XIICharlottesville, Va. (Virginia, 42-13) Atlantic Coast
