BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--CSU Bakersfield, the 2015 Western Athletic Conference Tournament champion, will begin its first NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament this weekend.
The Roadrunners (36-22-1) will play at the No. 1 overall seed, UCLA, Friday night in the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament regional round. First pitch is set for 8 p.m. (PDT) and will be televised on ESPN U.
UCLA ended the regular season with a record of 42-14 and 22-8 in the Pac-12 Conference, earning the program's 11th conference title. CSUB is the fourth seed in the UCLA regional tournament. The Roadrunners advanced to the NCAA Tournament by coming through the loser's bracket of the WAC Tournament, defeating Seattle U 5-4 in the finals on Sunday.
UCLA leads the all-time series against CSU Bakersfield 3-1. The Bruins are ranked second in each of the five major baseball polls, marking the highest ranked opponent that CSUB has taken on. South Carolina was ranked No. 4 during the 2011 season when the Roadrunners traveled to Columbia.
On the other side of the bracket, the second seed is Mississippi. Ole Miss will play the third seed, Maryland in Friday's early game. Mississippi finished the regular season with a 30-26 record. The sixth seed at the SEC Tournament, the Rebels lost in the single-elimination round of the tournament to Alabama 6-1.
Maryland finished 2015 with a 39-21 record, advancing to the Big 10 baseball tournament championship game before losing 4-3 to Michigan. Potentially, this will be the first time that CSUB will play either Ole Miss or Maryland.
The losers of Friday's games play game three on Saturday at 4 p.m. The winners of Friday night's games will play in game four of the tournament on Saturday at 8 p.m. Game five of the tournament is set for Sunday at 4 p.m. and will feature the winner of the game three against the loser of game four. The winner of game five plays the winner of game four at 8 p.m. on Sunday in the first regional championship game. The if necessary game is set for Monday at 8 p.m.
All of the games will be available on ESPN 3 and the Watch ESPN app. In addition to the CSUB-UCLA game, ESPN U will televise Games 3 and 4 on Saturday as well as Games 6 and 7 during the tournament.
~www.GoRunners.com~
