Staff and Wire Report
The Texas A&M baseball team won't play host to an NCAA regional, but the Aggies' road to Omaha is a rather familiar one.
The NCAA selection committee sent the Aggies to the Fort Worth Regional, where former Southwest Conference rival Texas Christian University is hosting for the first time. Oregon State and Wright State round out the regional.
The second-seeded Aggies will face the third-seeded Beavers at 2 p.m. Friday to start the double-elimination tournament. Wright State and top-seeded TCU will play at 7 p.m.
The winner in Fort Worth will advance to play in Super Regionals against the winner of the regional hosted by the Texas Longhorns in Austin, which includes Texas State, Boston College and Army.
"It's exciting to be playing in the state of Texas," A&M coach Rob Childress said. "We're going to travel well and we'll have a lot of maroon in the stands when we do play, and that's a good feeling.
"I don't think any of us were surprised when we saw where we were going today. We open against a perennial national power in Oregon State and are very familiar with the other two teams. It ought to be a great tournament."
A&M will have to overcome the home-field advantage that served it well the last two seasons in reaching Super Regionals.
A&M appeared poised to host its third straight NCAA regional and possibly a Super Regional when the Aggies grabbed a 4-3 victory over TCU in 10 innings April 28 at Olsen Field. That was part of a 12-game stretch in which A&M won 10 games, including a 7-3 victory at top-ranked Rice. But A&M (36-22) lost five of its last six regular-season Big 12 games to slip to sixth in the conference standings.
The Aggies lost to Missouri 5-2 to open the league tournament. A&M rebounded in Oklahoma City to beat Oklahoma and Texas Tech, but it was too late.
The NCAA selection committee awarded Oklahoma, Rice, Texas and TCU regional sites Sunday, then made Texas the No. 1 national seed Monday with the Sooners -- who swept the Aggies in the regular season -- the No. 7 seed. Texas won two of three against A&M, grabbing an 11-9 victory in 10 innings in Game 1 and a 5-4 victory in Game 3. The Longhorns benefited from close calls by umpire Dave Yeast in both losses.
"The way it's set up is really good for what we want to do," A&M senior center fielder Kyle Colligan said. "We want to play Texas again, but first we've got to win the regional.
"It's going to be tough. TCU is a good team. Oregon Sate is a good team. We just can't take anyone lightly in the regional."
This is A&M's fifth trip to regionals since its last appearance in the College World Series in Omaha, Neb., which was 1999.
"We are five wins away from Omaha," Childress said. "That's our ultimate goal, and that's everyone's goal who had their name called today. There aren't many teams left on that road anymore, and we've got our opportunity. I think our team is ready to go play. It ought to be an exciting two weeks of baseball."
TCU (36-16), like A&M and Oregon State, was at-large pick to the 64-team tournament. The Horned Frogs won the Mountain West Conference regular-season title but failed to win the league's tournament in Fort Worth, losing twice to eventual champion Utah.
Oregon State (35-17) had a 15-12 mark in the Pac-10, which doesn't have a tournament. The Beavers have won 10 of their last 15, including two of three from Stanford over the weekend. They've limited opponents to a .188 batting average while posting a 2.45 earned run average during their hot streak.
"We are excited to earn a regional berth," OSU head coach Pat Casey said. "We feel that this will be a competitive regional, one that is going to take the best from each team. We are going to get to work here in Corvallis (Ore.) and prepare for the trip. We are coming off a good weekend of play at Stanford and want to improve on it further."
The Beavers, who were national champions in 2006 and 2007, split a pair of games with the Aggies in 2007 at the Aggie Baseball Classic at Olsen Field.
"Opening with Oregon State is going to be a great challenge," Childress said. " They have a lot of tradition up there. There will be some familiar faces in the lineup on both sides [from 2007], and it ought to be a great game. We're looking forward to it."
Wright State (33-28), which won the Horizon League tournament, opened the season by losing four games at Olsen Field. The Aggies outscored the Raiders 42-13 in that series.
"They know us, we know them," senior first baseman Luke Anders said of the field. "It's going to be a good, hard fought battle.
*
NOTES -- Colligan and Anders are the only players on A&M's roster who started against OSU two years ago. ... The Big 12 had a record eight teams picked -- Baylor (No. 3 seed, Baton Rouge, La. Regional), Kansas (No. 3 seed, Chapel Hill, N.C. Regional), Kansas State (No. 2 seed, Houston Regional), Missouri (No. 2 seed, Oxford, Miss. Regional) and Oklahoma State (No. 3 seed, Clemson, S.C. Regional). The Cowboys didn't make the league tournament but were still awarded an at-large regional bid. ... Tickets to the Fort Worth Regional go on sale Tuesday morning. Tickets initially will be sold as all-session reserved seat packages, which are $60 for adults and $30 for youth. Single-game reserved tickets will not be sold until the first game and will be $20 for adults and $10 for youth. All seats in Lupton Stadium will be sold as reserved seats. Once all reserved seats are sold, standing-room only will be available on the grass hill down the first-base line. Those tickets will be $15 each. Tickets for the general public will go on sale Tuesday morning. Fans can call (817) 257-FROG to purchase tickets. ... A&M played at TCU last season before 4,294 fans, which was a record for the $7 million facility that opened in 2003. ... TCU is 20-9 at home this season.
Sam Houston State staying close to home
The Sam Houston State Bearkats were sent to the Houston Regional, where they will face Rice for the second consecutive season in the first round. Kansas State and Xavier are the other teams.
SHSU lost to Rice in last year's opener (3-2) before being ousted by Texas (13-3). The two teams split two games this season.
"We're extremely excited to be heading back to Houston to take on an outstanding program like Rice," SHSU head coach and former A&M skipper Mark Johnson said.
"We split with them this season just like last year. Of course, those were Tuesday games, so Friday they will be coming at us with their ace.
"We had a great game with Rice last year in the regional, losing a close one. We expect another exciting game this year. We don't know much right now about Kansas State and Xavier, but we will soon. The team played with a lot of heart at the Southland Conference tournament and I know they will give it everything they have this weekend."
SHSU is making its sixth NCAA tournament appearance and its third straight under Johnson.
The Kats' best NCAA regional performance came two years ago at Ole Miss, when the Bearkats posted come-from-behind victories over Troy (5-4) and Southern Mississippi (12-11 in 11 innings) to reach the finals before falling to Mississippi.
Texas State, which lost to SHSU in the Southland Conference tournament championship game, received an at-large bid and is the No. 2 seed in Austin.
NCAA BASEBALL
* Friday's Fort Worth Regional games: Texas A&M (36-22) vs. Oregon State (35-17), 2 p.m.; TCU (36-16) vs. Wright State (33-28), 7 p.m.
* Radio: A&M's game on WTAW, 1620 AM
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