May 30, 2005

For the fourth time in the last six seasons, at least two Big Ten programs have been selected to compete in the NCAA Baseball Championship as Michigan (41-17) and Ohio State (39-18) will represent the League in this year's 64-team field. The Wolverines are the No. 3 seed in the Atlanta, Georgia, regional while the Buckeyes earned the No. 4 seed in the Corvallis, Oregon, regional. The Big Ten last sent a pair of teams to the postseason in 2003 when Ohio State and Minnesota represented the League. Regional play is scheduled to begin on Friday, June 3, as four teams will compete for one of 16 spots in the super regionals to start on June 10.
 
Michigan will take part in the NCAA Championship for the first time since 1999 and the 18th time overall, which ranks second among all Big Ten programs to Minnesota (27 appearances). The Wolverines have won 13 of their last 16 games and produced 40 wins for the first time since 1989, when the program advanced to postseason for the seventh consecutive year. Michigan will battle No. 2 seed South Carolina (38-21) in the opening game as the two squads will be joined in Atlanta by No. 4 seed Furman (30-27) and No. 1 seed and regional host Georgia Tech (42-16), which enters the postseason as the No. 2 national seed behind No. 1 Tulane (50-9).

Ohio State earned the League's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship after becoming the lowest-seeded team to win the Big Ten Tournament, as the fifth-seeded Buckeyes knocked off sixth-seeded Minnesota in the championship game on Sunday. OSU ends a one-year absence in the postseason as the program returns to the NCAA Championship for the third time in four seasons and 17th time overall, which ranks third among all Conference schools. The Buckeyes will open tourney play against No. 1 seed and regional host Oregon State (41-9), the No. 8 national seed, and will be joined in Corvallis by No. 3 St. John's (39-16) and No. 2 Virginia (41-18).

The first weekend of NCAA Championship play features 16 four-team regionals using a double-elimination format.  Regional play runs from June 3-5, with 16 winners advancing to the next round. The eight two-team super regional sites will be determined on Sunday, June 5, with play set for June 10-12 in a best-of-three format. The College World Series opens on Friday, June 17, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Big Ten Baseball

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