May 25, 2003
Indianapolis, Ind. - The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee has selected Stanford as one of 16 regional sites for the 2003 NCAA Division I Baseball Championship announced Sunday. Stanford will be hosting an NCAA Regional for the eighth consecutive year and the 12th time in school history.
The NCAA Regional at Sunken Diamond will begin with two games next Friday, May 30 (2 pm, 6 pm). Three games will be played on Saturday, May 31 (11 am, 3 pm, 7 pm) with the regional championship slated for Sunday, June 1 (1 pm, 5 pm if necessary). All session passes for the event will go on sale Tuesday, May 27, at the Stanford Ticket Office or by calling 1-800-STANFORD. Stanford Ticket Office hours next Tuesday-Friday are 9 am - 4 pm. Prices for all session passes are $50 (Reserved), $35 (Adult General Admission) and $20 (Child/Senior/Student General Admission). Single game tickets will be available on the day of the game only. Prices for single game tickets are $15 (Reserved), $12 (General Admission Adult) and $8 (Child/Senior/Student General Admission).
The entire 64-team tournament field, top eight national seeds and first round regional pairings will be announced live on ESPN2 on Monday, May 26 (9:30 am, PT). The 16 regional winners will advance to the NCAA Super Regionals to be conducted Friday, June 6 - Monday, June 9. The committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the 57th College World Series, which will be held Friday, June 13 - Monday, June 23, in Omaha, Nebraska. The committee will not reseed the field after play begins. Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced on Monday, June 2.
Stanford is attempting to extend its school record streak of College World Series appearances to five in 2003. The Cardinal has made four appearances in the CWS championship game, winning the national title in 1987 and 1988, while finishing as runners-up in 2000 and 2001.
Stanford finished the 2003 regular season with a 41-15 record after completing a sweep of Cal Poly with an 8-4 victory on Sunday. Stanford also won its first outright Pac-10 title since 1999 earlier this season (the Cardinal shared the 2000 crown), finishing with an 18-6 conference record.
A complete listing of regional sites (and hosts) are as follows: Tempe, Arizona (Arizona State); Auburn, Alabama (Auburn); Fullerton, California (Cal State Fullerton); Tallahassee, Florida (Florida State); Atlanta, Georgia (Georgia Tech); Long Beach, California (Long Beach State); Baton Rouge, Louisiana (Louisiana State); Coral Gables, Florida (Miami); Starkville, Mississippi (Mississippi State); Lincoln, Nebraska (Nebraska); Wilson, North Carolina (North Carolina State); Houston, Texas (Rice); Hattiesburg, Mississippi (Southern Mississippi); Stanford, California (Stanford); Austin, Texas (Texas); College Station, Texas (Texas A&M). All regionals are campus sites except Arizona State (Diablo Stadium) and North Carolina State (Fleming Stadium).
Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, May 30 - Sunday, June 1.
Long Beach State, North Carolina State and Southern Mississippi will host a regional for the first time, although Wilson, North Carolina, has been a location previously, while eight sites (Arizona State, Florida State, Georgia Tech, Louisiana State, Nebraska, Rice, Stanford and Texas) also hosted in 2002.
Thirty Division I conferences receive an automatic berth in the field of 64, along with 34 at-large selections.