May 21, 2001
The University of Notre Dame baseball team will welcome the University of California Santa Barbara, Florida International University and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee to the NCAA Baseball Championship South Bend Regional, to be held May 25-27 at Notre Dame’s Frank Eck Stadium.
Notre Dame (46-11-1) is the No. 1 seed in the double-elimination regional and will face fourth-seeded Wisconsin-Milwaukee (39-16) on Friday, May 25, at 4:00 p.m. EST (equivalent to 4:00 in Chicago). Friday’s second game then will feature UCSB (39-15) versus FIU (40-18), beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. (the game will start 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game and no sooner than 7:30).
The losers of Friday’s games will meet on Saturday in a noon elimination game, followed by a game between Friday’s winners on Saturday at approximately 3:30. The teams that remain 1-1 then will play an elimination game on Saturday night at approximately 7:00.
Sunday’s championship round will include a 1:00 p.m., followed by a 4:30 p.m. game if necessary under the double-elimination format.
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.
The winner of the South Bend Regional will be paired in the superregional round versus the winner of the Los Angeles Regional, which is hosted by the University of Southern California (the tournament’s No. 3 overall seed).
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.
Notre Dame won the BIG EAST Conference regular-season title in record-setting fashion (22-4) before going 1-2 in the BIG EAST Tournament. UCSB finished second in the Big West Conference regular-season standings at 12-6 (the Big West does not sponsor a postseason tournament) while Florida International finished third in Sun Belt Conference play at 16-12 (followed by an 0-2 showing in the Sun Belt tournament). UWM won both the regular-season (16-4) and postseason titles in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference, thus earning the MCC’s automatic NCAA bid (UCSB and FIU were at-large selections).
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.