#BIGEASTbase Sends Two, St. John’s And Xavier To NCAA Tournament
NEW YORK, N.Y. – Two BIG EAST baseball squads will start on the road back to Omaha this weekend after both Xavier and St. John’s were announced in the NCAA Tournament field of 64 on Monday afternoon. Both Xavier and St. John’s are No. 3 seeds in their respective regionals.
It is the first time in the new configuration of the BIG EAST that the conference earned an at-large bid. Xavier is one of 31 automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Tournament. St. John’s is one of 33 teams to receive an at-large bid.
Both Xavier and St. John’s have represented the BIG EAST in the NCAA tournament in the last four years. Xavier earned the automatic qualifier in 2014, 2016 and 2017. St. John’s was the AQ in 2015.
Xavier (32-25) is heading back to the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four seasons and will travel to Louisville, Ky., this weekend to face No. 2 seed Oklahoma on Friday, June 2, at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN3 at Jim Paterson Stadium. Also in the Louisville Regional are No. 1 seed Louisville (47-10) and No. 4 seed Radford (27-30). It is the second time the Musketeers are No. 3 seed. After winning its second consecutive BIG EAST Championship title this weekend, Xavier is riding a seven-game winning streak into the NCAA Tournament.
Xavier is making its fourth appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers’ first tournament berth was in 2009. Xavier went 2-2 last year in Nashville, reaching the regional championship for the first time in program history. The Musketeers were the final No. 4 seed left in the tournament, falling to UC Santa Barbara at Hawkins Field.
St. John’s opens regional action on Friday at 12 p.m., traveling to Clemson, S.C., to square off against second-seeded Vanderbilt. Clemson and UNC-Greensboro round out the regional field and will play on Friday at 7 p.m. Friday's opener is set to be carried on the SEC Network. It is the 36th time since 1949 that the Red Storm has earned an NCAA Tournament berth. In the last 14 seasons, St. John’s has earned a spot in the NCAA tournament field nine times. St. John’s was the runner up in last weekend’s BIG EAST tournament.
St. John’s enters the NCAA Regional with a record of 42-11, just one victory away from tying the program record for wins in a season set in 2010. That season, the Red Storm advanced to the finals of the Charlottesville Regional before falling to the host Cavaliers.
The regional rounds of the NCAA Tournament are a four-team, double-elimination format, with the winner advancing to play in the Super Regional the following weekend. All games in the 2017 NCAA Baseball Tournament will be broadcast on the ESPN family of networks.
The national top eight seeds are Oregon St. (49-4), North Carolina (47-12), Florida (42-16), LSU (43-17), Texas Tech (43-15), TCU (42-16), Louisville (47-10) and Stanford (40-14).
The 71st NCAA Men's College World Series begins play Saturday, June 17, at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha in Omaha, Neb., home of last weekend’s BIG EAST Baseball Championship presented by Jeep.