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May 14, 2001
The University of Notre Dame has been selected as one of 16 regional sites for the 55th annual NCAA Baseball Championship, as announced by the NCAA baseball executive committee.
Notre Dame-ranked as high as third and as low as fifth in this week’s three national polls-will play host to the four-team, double-elimination regional at Frank Eck Stadium from May 25-27, with two games on Friday, three on Saturday and one or two on Sunday. Game times are to be announced (see ticket information below).
The entire 64-team tournament field and pairings will be announced live on ESPN, on Monday, May 21, at 2:00 p.m. EST. Notre Dame’s being awarded a home site guarantees the Irish a place in the tournament and they will play in the South Bend regional.
The winner of the South Bend regional will advance to the super regional round, which will feature eight best-of-three series on June 1-3. The eight Super Regional winners then will advance to the College World Series, to be held June 8-16 in Omaha, Neb.
Notre Dame-which also hosted an NCAA regional in ’99-is one of 11 schools to be a multiple host during the past three years. Four schools-Florida State (40-15), LSU (37-8-1), Miami, Fla. (41-12) and Stanford (39-14)-have been selected as host teams during each of the past three seasons (the tournament expanded from eight six-team regionals to 16 four-team regionals, beginning in ’99). Three others-Cal State Fullerton (39-14), Clemson (37-18) and South Carolina (41-15)-will be hosting for the second straight season.
Notre Dame is joined by Ohio State (41-14) and USC (35-16) as teams that will have hosted in ’99 and 2001 while Baylor was a regional host in ’99 and 2000.
The other 2001 regional hosts include East Carolina (44-11), Georgia (40-16), Nebraska (41-14), Rice (40-17), Tennessee (41-15) and Tulane (45-9)-with ECU playing host at off-campus Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C.
Five schools-East Carolina, Georgia, Nebraska, Rice and Tulane-will host a regional for the first time (Rice and Houston were co-hosts of a 2000 regional).
The current 45-9-1 record for the Irish established a Notre Dame and BIG EAST record for most total wins in the regular season while ND ran away with the BIG EAST Conference title by winning 22 of 26 league games (the ’99 Irish team held the previous BIG EAST record for best conference won-loss mark, at 20-5).
Notre Dame plays Virginia Tech on Thursday in the first round of the BIG EAST tournament in Bridgewater, N.J., at 3:30 p.m. EDT.
Notre Dame previously played host to NCAA Tournament games in 1949 and ’59, prior to the current regional format (which began in 1975).
Following regional play, selection of the eight superregional hosts will be determined and announced on Memorial Day, May 28, at 2 p.m. EST. The 55th College World Series begins play on Friday, June 8, at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.
The Irish dropped from second to third in the Collegiate Baseball magazine national poll but ND’s 463 poll points narrowly trail USC (466) and Miami (465). The Irish also dropped from third to fifth in the Baseball America poll (behind Miami, USC, Nebraska and Cal State Fullerton) but moved up from fifth to fourth in the USA Today/EXPN coaches poll (behind Miami, USC and Stanford).
TICKET INFORMATION
Tickets for the South Bend Regional may be purchased at the Notre Dame Joyce Center Ticket Office or by calling (219) 631-7356 for credit cards orders. Tickets must be purchased on a single-game basis or as an entire regional package and a new ticket will be required for every game (including a potential second title game on Sunday). It is not known at this time when Notre Dame would be playing and Sunday’s second game will be played only if necessary in the double-elimination format.
The cost of individual game tickets in the Reserved Seating is $8.00 for an adult and $4.00 for college students with valid I.D. and youth high school age and under. General Admission seating is $6.00 for an adult and $4.00 for college students with valid I.D. and youth high school age and under.
A reserved seating package (all-tournament pass) is $32.00 for an adult and $16.00 for a youth while general admission all-tournament packages are $24.00 and $16.00. All persons, regardless of age, are required to have a ticket for an NCAA event. Reserved seating consists of the permanent bleachers behind home plate. General admission seating is located in the bleachers just beyond first and third base.