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Gonzaga baseball awaits word of NCAA regional destination

The Gonzaga baseball team has had plenty to celebrate this year, including the WCC Tournament championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. (Dan Pelle / The Spokesman-Review)
Staff and wire report

The Gonzaga baseball team is still waiting to hear.

The news will come Monday morning during the NCAA Tournament Selection Show, which airs at 9 a.m. on ESPNU.

This much the Bulldogs know: They will be one of the 64 teams in the field, playing at one of 16 sites on Friday. As a teaser, the NCAA committee announced on Sunday the host schools for the 16 regionals.

Each regional will be made up of four teams playing in a double-elimination format. All are scheduled from Friday through Monday. Regional winners advance to best-of-three super regionals, and those eight winners go on to the College World Series in Omaha.

Arkansas (39-18), Clemson (45-14), Florida (42-17), Florida State (43-17), North Carolina (38-18), Oregon State (44-10-1), Stanford (44-10) and Texas Tech (39-17) all hosted regionals in 2017 and have been chosen again this year.

Other regional sites are: Georgia (37-19), Texas (37-20), Coastal Carolina (42-17), East Carolina (43-16), Minnesota (41-13), Mississippi (46-15) and North Carolina State (40-16).

Gonzaga defeated Pepperdine 17-2 on Saturday to win the WCC Tournament and the automatic NCAA bid that goes with it. This marks the second time in the last three years that GU has earned a berth into the NCAAs, third time under coach Mark Machtolf and GU’s 10th overall appearance.

Some facts about the regional hosts:

Florida State, which won its second straight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title on Sunday, is a regional host for the eighth straight season and the 20th time in 22 seasons. Seminoles coach Mike Martin became the winningest baseball coach in NCAA history this season, but is still seeking his first national title.

Stetson (45-11) will be playing in its 19th regional, but is hosting for the first time after sweeping the Atlantic Sun Conference regular-season and tournament championships. At 15 games, the Hatters own the nation’s longest active win streak.

Florida, the top-ranked team most of the season and No. 1 in the RPI, will host for the ninth time in 11 seasons under coach Kevin O’Sullivan.

Stanford won the Pac-12 under first-year coach David Esquer and along with Oregon State will be the only West Coast hosts.

Georgia returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2011 and will be hosting for the first time since 2008. East Carolina is a host for the first time since 2009.