The University of Florida baseball team
learned on Monday afternoon that it was awarded the No. 3 seed at the
Bloomington (Ind.) Regional for the 2013 NCAA Baseball Tournament that begins
on Friday. Making their 29th Regional appearance and sixth in a row under head
coach Kevin O’Sullivan, the third-seeded Gators (29-28) will face second-seeded
Austin Peay (45-13) at 1 p.m. on ESPN3. Top-seeded Indiana (43-14) will meet
fourth-seeded Valparaiso (31-26) later in the day at 7 p.m. This appearance marks
the first time in school history that the same head coach has taken UF to
six-straight Regionals.
The Regional continues through Sunday, with a
final game to be played Monday night, if necessary. The Bloomington Regional
winner will face the winner of the Tallahassee Regional in a Super Regional
series next weekend. The eight Super Regional winners advance to the College
World Series in Omaha, Neb.
UF is 85-60 (.586) all-time in NCAA
Tournament action and has reached the CWS eight times: 1988, 1991, 1996, 1998, 2005,
2010, 2011 and 2012. Last season, the Gators defeated Bethune-Cookman (4-0) and
Georgia Tech twice (6-2 and 15-3) to sweep the Gainesville Regional before
handling NC State twice to win the Gainesville Super Regional.
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2013 NCAA Bloomington Regional
Schedule
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Friday,
May 31
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Game
1: 1
p.m. – No. 2 Austin Peay (45-13) vs. No. 3 FLORIDA (29-28) (ESPN3)
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Game
2: 7
p.m. – No. 1 Indiana (43-14) vs. No. 4 Valparaiso (31-26) (ESPN3)
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Saturday,
June 1
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Game
3:
2 p.m. – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2 (ESPN3)
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Game
4: 6
p.m. – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2 (ESPN3)
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Sunday,
June 2
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Game
5:
1 p.m. – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4 (ESPN3)
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Game
6: 7
p.m. – Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5 (ESPN3)
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Monday,
June 3
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Game
7:
(if necessary) – 7 p.m. - Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6 (ESPN3)
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The national top eight seeds are North
Carolina (52-8), Vanderbilt (51-9), Oregon State (45-10), LSU (52-9), Cal State
Fullerton (48-8), Virginia (47-10), Florida State (44-15) and Oregon (45-14).
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) led all
conferences in the number of teams in the championship field with nine, while
the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) has eight institutions. The Pacific-12 Conference
and the Sun Belt Conference each have four selected.
