Mizzou Baseball Makes 15th NCAA Tournament Appearance
5/26/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 26, 2003
INDIANAPOLIS - For the first time since 1996, the Missouri baseball team is back in the show.
The Tigers (35-20) have received an at-large bid to the 2003 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament, committee officials announced today during a live, 30-minute announcement on ESPN2. Mizzou, which received a regional No. 3 seed, will begin play on Friday at 2 p.m. CDT against No. 2 North Carolina (39-21) in Starkville, Miss.
That Starkville regional, one of 16 four-team mini-tournaments across the country to comprise the 64-team bracket, is hosted by regional No. 1 seed Mississippi State (40-18-1) , who will play No. 4 Middle Tennessee (33-25) on Friday at 6 p.m. The winner of the Starkville regional will advance to next weekend's best-of-three super regional series against the winner of the Atlanta (Georgia Tech) regional.
The team gathered at the home of Head Coach Tim Jamieson to watch the national telecast, and erupted into cheers as "MISSOURI" flashed on the screen with North Carolina.
"We were all sitting in coach's house, and we all just jumped up when [ESPN analyst] Harold Reynolds said our name," said senior CF Jayce Tingler (Smithville, Mo.). It was honestly the best feeling I've had in a long time."
"This team has put in so much time and effort, and it's a just thing for them to be in this tournament," said Jamieson, who as an assistant coach in 1984 helped the University of New Orleans defeat an MSU squad that featured Will Clark and Rafael Palmeiro to win the Starkville regional to advance the Privateers to the College World Series. "It's nice for them to get rewarded for the commitment they've put in."
Bleacher and outfield terrace all-tournament tickets will go on sale Tuesday, and are priced at $40 apiece. The Mississippi State Athletic Ticket Office can be reached at 1-888-GO-DAWGS (662-325-2600 locally). Regional tickets may be purchased over the counter at the Bryan Building in Starkville.
Mizzou continues its storied baseball history by making its 15th NCAA Tournament appearance and first since 1996, when the Tigers lost two straight in Wichita, Kan. A six-time participant in the College World Series, Missouri won the 1954 NCAA National Championship. Earlier this season, the Tigers became just the 36th program in NCAA history to win 1,800 games.
The Tarheels, who finished fifth in the Atlantic Coast Conference with a 13-11 mark, boasts one of the top hitters in the country in junior 1B Jeremy Cleveland. His .431 batting average is eighth in the country, and his 18 homers have him ranked among the top 25 in the nation. UNC defeated national No. 1 seed Florida State, 3-2, in the opening game of the ACC Tournament over the weekend.
Mississippi State finished third in the SEC West and advanced to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.
Middle Tennessee, the fourth seed in the tournament, comes to Starkville with a record of 33-25. The Blue Raiders won the 2003 Sun Belt Conference Tournament and earned that league's automatic bid.
