The news made its way around town via Twitter.
SDSUNews Team sent this message out at 10:09 a.m. Monday: "We're dancin! Strasburg to pitch game 1 on the road to Omaha in the college baseball world series! Way to go SDSU!"
SDSU (40-21) takes on Virginia (43-12-1) in Game 1 at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Friday May 29. All-session tickets, ranging in price from $50 for lawn seating to $100 for reserved, are now available online. Individual game tickets will available starting May 27.
“It’s a nice feel. It’s been a long time since we’ve been there,” said Coach Tony Gwynn. “Now you get down to the business of baseball which is what we’re here to do. We have a lot of work to do.”
Gwynn admits there’s no question that Stephen Strasburg was a factor in getting selected for the tournament.
“That’s kind of like our ace in the hole. You want it to be on merit. We won 40 games. There aren’t many teams in this field that have won 40 games," he said. “Having the best player in the country doesn’t hurt.”
Waiting for the announcement was a little nerve-wracking for the team. Coach Gwynn admitted to spending more time on the computer lately than ever before in his life.
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“There was a little bit of doubt because Utah won the tournament and TCU was automatically in because they’re Top 25. We were a little worried about whether they were going to take three Mountain West Conference teams,” said sophomore outfielder Corey Vaughn.
But when the news broke, there were smiles all around. “It was great. We all got up and cheered and got loud and stuff. It was great,” said freshman infielder Ryan O’Sullivan.
The regional competition should be tough, but it's nothing the team can't handle according to Gwynn. Something his players echoed Monday.
“Going to keep doing what we’ve been doing all year,” said sophomore pitcher Addison Reed.
The University of Texas has been selected the top seed for the 64-team Division I baseball tournament. The Longhorns are 41-13-1 and won the Big 12 tournament for the fourth time. They will host one of 16 four-team, double-elimination regionals that begin Friday.
The other national seeds, in order, are: Cal State Fullerton, LSU, North Carolina, Arizona State, UC Irvine, Oklahoma and Florida.
The 16 regional winners move on to the best-of-three super regionals, beginning June 5. The eight super regional winners advance to the College World Series, which begins June 13 in Omaha, Neb.
Defending national champion Fresno State will play UC Irvine in the first round of the Irvine, Calif., regional. UC Irvine is ranked No. 1 in most national polls.
You can check out the selection information or print out a bracket to follow the action.
