PROVIDENCE, R.I. – ECU (43-15) was selected as one of 16 regional hosts for the 73rd annual NCAA Division I Baseball Championship, as announced by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee on Sunday night. It marks the second-straight year that the Pirates will host the Greenville Regional. The remaining at-large teams, top-16 national seeds, first-round regional pairings and site assignments will be announced Monday, May 27 at noon (ET). The one-hour program will be shown live on ESPNU or
WatchESPN.
An American team has hosted a regional in each of the past three seasons and in four of the past five years. Houston (2017 and 2015) and Louisville (2014) are the two other American Athletic Conference teams to have hosted a regional over the league’s six-year span. In addition to hosting in 2018, ECU hosted a regional at Clark-LeClair Stadium in 2009, and also hosted opening round regional tournaments on two occasions at different venues.
ECU, which became the first team in American Athletic Conference history to win 20 league games, clinched its first American regular season title and earned the No. 1 seed for the conference tournament. The Pirates won all eight of their regular season conference series and have been ranked as high as No. 6 nationally. ECU enters the NCAA tournament with the No. 5 RPI ranking in the country. Five ECU batters are hitting over .300, while the Pirates have had one of the most dynamic pitching staffs in the league averaging a conference-low 3.70 ERA. Lefthander Jake Agnos (10-2) broke the league’s strikeouts record (131 Ks) and was named Pitcher of the Year. Head coach Cliff Godwin earned his second American Coach of the Year nod.
Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 31-Monday, June 3. Start times for each game will be determined once television selections have been finalized.
Owning the fifth-best RPI ranking among the 31 Division I conferences, The American has had at least three NCAA tournament teams in each of the last four seasons.
Thirty-one (31) Division I conferences receive automatic berths in the field of 64, along with 33 at-large selections. The College World Series begins play Saturday, June 15 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.