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Texas Longhorns baseball team hosting NCAA Regional
Roughly a month ago, not many saw UT hosting but after finishing the season 11-3, Texas has earned hosting duties as the nation's #9 overall seed.
AUSTIN, Texas - Roughly a month ago, not many saw the struggling Texas Longhorns hosting an NCAA baseball tournament regional. UT finished the season strong though going 11-3 and earning hosting duties as the nation's #9 overall seed.
"To host a top 16, when 64 are invited, you just can't take that for granted, ever. I'm really proud of these guys and how they really came together when it looked like, uh oh here we go, against Oklahoma State, and I think we've won 10 out of our last 13, which is another good sign," says Texas head baseball coach David Pierce.
Texas has a tricky opener against an Air Force team that beat them 14-2 in Austin, splitting a two-game set.
Regional #2 seed Louisiana Tech and #3 seed Dallas Baptist are also coming to town.
The players are confident about their chances going in.
"Yeah Id say we're really confident. I think our fans are going to show up and support like they have all year. We can't wait to play in front of those guys," redshirt sophomore infielder Trey Faltine.
"We've been playing ranked teams. Good teams. We beat a good TCU team, a good Oklahoma State team. We'll build off that and go right into the tournament," says redshirt junior first baseman Ivan Melendez.
Adds redshirt sophomore pitcher Pete Hansen, "We've dealt with adversity before, we've dealt with it this season. I love this group of guys. I'm thankful for every moment I have with them, these are my brothers, and I'm excited to go to war with them."
Tennessee is the overall #1 seed in the tournament. The Volunteers have been the consensus No. 1 team in the polls all but one week since March 28 and have won eight straight and 12 of 13 going into regionals.
The national seeds following Tennessee: Stanford (41-14), Oregon State (44-15), Virginia Tech (41-12), Texas A&M (37-18), Miami (39-18), Oklahoma State (39-20) and East Carolina (42-18).
Seeds nine through 16: Texas (42-19), North Carolina (38-19), Southern Mississippi (43-16), Louisville (38-18-1), Florida (39-22), Auburn (37-19), Maryland (45-12) and Georgia Southern (40-18).
The 64-team tournament opens Friday in 16 regionals. Winners advance to eight best-of-three super regionals. Those winners move on to the College World Series in Omaha.
The top eight national seeds are assured of hosting super regionals if they win their regionals.
A game of note involving two other Texas teams. Experts say the best regional storyline could be a day two meeting between Texas A&M and TCU in College Station. Schlossnagle left TCU for the Aggies' job after last season. TCU's coach is Kirk Saarloos, who was an assistant under Schlossnagle for 10 years.
FOX Sports contributed to this report.