The NCAA Division I baseball tournament is returning to Coral Gables.
The University of Miami baseball program learned Sunday night that it will host an NCAA regional at Alex Rodriguez Park for the first time since the 2012 season and 25th time in school history.
Though the NCAA will announce UM’s three regional opponents and the full field of 64 teams for the tournament at noon Monday, Sunday’s announcement means that UM has extended its national record streak to 42 consecutive NCAA postseason berths in baseball.
Included among the 16 regional sites are Florida (40-21) in Gainesville and Florida State (43-15) in Tallahassee. Regional play begins Friday and runs through the weekend.
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Also hosting from the Atlantic Coast Conference is Virginia (44-13).
“I’m looking forward to see how the ACC teams do in the NCAA tournament because there are some really good clubs here,” UM coach Jim Morris said Saturday after the Hurricanes defeated Duke in 12 innings in their final ACC tournament game. “We’ve got to get eight, maybe nine, 10 teams in the tournament.”
The Canes likely eliminated their chance of being named one of eight national seeds by losing two of three games this past week at their conference tournament in Greensboro, North Carolina
Each of the eight national seeds has the advantage of hosting a two-team super regional should it win its regional. If UM is not named a national seed but wins its regional, the only way the Canes would stay at home for a super regional would be if the national seed in the corresponding bracket is eliminated in its regional.
The last time the Canes traveled to a super regional was in 2010 at Gainesville, where Miami lost to the Gators.
The Hurricanes (41-17) hosted Stony Brook, UCF and Missouri State in 2012, but fell in the regional and never made it to the super-regional round.
Last season UM traveled to Louisville and also was eliminated in the regional.
Miami won national titles in 1982, ’85, ’99 and ’01, but it has not been to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, since 2008. The College World Series begins June 14.
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