VESTAL, N.Y. - Binghamton baseball will be headed to College Station, Texas for the NCAA Regionals. The Bearcats (30-23), fresh off their third America East title in the last four years, drew the nation's No. 1 team, Texas A&M, in their opening game of the double-elimination format. The SEC champion Aggies (45-14) are hosting the four-team regional, which also includes second-seeded Minnesota (34-20) and third-seeded Wake Forest (34-25).
"Texas A&M has a pretty good history of good baseball so it will be a difficult task at hand," 24th-year head coach
Tim Sinicki said. "But we like challenges. The guys are excited to head to College Station and see how we can handle an SEC school."
The regular-season champion Bearcats completed a perfect 3-0 run through the America East tournament, highlighted by an historic, nine-run, ninth-inning comeback to beat Hartford in a winner's bracket game Friday in Lowell. Top-seeded Binghamton then punched its ticket to its fourth NCAA tournament (all in the last eight years) with a 6-3 win over Stony Brook in Saturday's championship.
The Aggies captured their first SEC championship on Sunday with a 12-5 win over top-seeded Florida in Hoover, Alabama. Texas A&M won its sixth conference title and will be making the program's 10th consecutive NCAA appearance and 32nd overall.
"We will continue to prepare and to represent the Univeristy and the conference in the best way we can," five-time America East Coach of the Year Sinicki said. "We have to be who we are. We play good fundamental baseball and we will go and try to compete with them. I don't think our guys will shy away from competing. They believe in each other and play until the last out is made. I think we showed that at the America East tournament."
Minnesota won the Big Ten regular-season crown with a 16-7 conference record. The Gophers are making their 31st NCAA appearance - the most of any program in the Big Ten.
Wake Forest earned an at-large berth after finishing tied for 10th place in the ACC. They are making their first NCAA appeareance since 2007.
Stony Brook became the first America East team under the current NCAA tournament format to advance to the Super Regional Round and then went on to the College World Series in 2012. An America East team has won at-least one game in five of the last seven NCAA tournament’s beginning with Binghamton in 2009.
Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, June 3, to Monday, June 6.
NCAA COLLEGE STATION REGIONAL SCHEDULE (all times Eastern)
Friday, June 3
4:00 PM - G1: Minnesota vs Wake Forest (ESPN3)
9:00 PM - G2: Texas A&M vs Binghamton (SEC Network)
Saturday, June 4
4:00 PM - G3: Game 1 Loser vs Game 2 Loser
9:00 PM - G4: Game 1 Winner vs Game 2 Winner
Sunday, June 5
4:00 PM - G5: Game 3 Winner vs Game 4 Loser
9:00 PM - G6: Game 4 Winner vs Game 5 Winner
Monday, June 6
TBA - G7: Game 4 Winner vs Game 5 Winner (if necessary)