The NCAA News - News and Features

The NCAA News -- May 10, 1999

Division I Baseball

Field: A pool of 64 teams will enter regional play. Twenty-nine conference champions qualify automatically; the balance of the field is selected at large by the Division I committee. Sixteen four-team regionals will be conducted with the winners advancing to eight, two-team super regionals. The eight super regional champions will qualify for the College World Series.

Dates and sites: Regional competition will be conducted May 28-30 at on-campus sites. Super regionals will be held June 4-6, also at on-campus sites. The College World Series is set for June 11-19 at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska. Creighton University will serve as the host institution.

Information/results: The fax-on-demand telephone number is 770/563-1133 (pin code 1915); request numbers are 1227 for bracket/schedule and 5037 for results. Scores and pairings from regional competition will appear in the June 7 and June 21 issues of The NCAA News, and championship results will be published July 5.

Championship notes: Southern California won its 12th championship in 1998, but it was its first since 1978. The Trojans, who hit a record .378 for the Series, led an assault on numerous CWS records, including marks for home runs by all teams (62) ... The 1998 CWS was well-attended, setting the championship game record (24,456), the series record (204,361) and average attendance record (20,436) ... Florida State, Miami (Florida), Cal State Fullerton, Rice, Stanford and Mississippi State have been rated in the Top 10 for much of the year and figure to challenge for a spot in the CWS.