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Rice to Host NCAA Baseball Regional
Reckling Park to Host

	Reckling Park

May 27, 2012

The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee announced 16 regional sites for the 66th annual NCAA Division I Baseball Championship Sunday afternoon, and for the 10th time in the past 12 years, Rice's Reckling Park will serve as a site for the opening round of The Road to Omaha.

The Owls, who won the Conference USA regular season title, have qualified for their 18th-consecutive NCAA Baseball Championship. Each regional field features four teams, playing a double-elimination format. All 16 regionals are scheduled to be conducted from Friday, June 1, to Monday, June 4.

The remaining at-large teams, top-eight national seeds, first-round regional pairings and site assignments will be announced at 11:00 a.m. (central) on ESPN. The NCAA Division I Baseball Committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the Men's College World Series.

All-session passes for the Houston (Rice) Regional are $65 each and are now available online at this link currently on sale online. First-time buyers to the Owls' ticketing system will have to create an account to complete their purchase after selecting their seat locations.

Tickets can also be ordered by calling (713) 522-OWLS or by visiting the Rice Athletic Ticket Office, which will be open from 8:30 a.m.-6 p.m. on Tuesday-Thursday. Single-game tickets will go on sale later in the week, pending availability. All ticket sales will move to the Reckling Park box office on Friday.

The 16 regional sites, with host institutions and records are as follows (* playing on Sunday): Baton Rouge, Louisiana - LSU (43-16); Chapel Hill, North Carolina - North Carolina (44-14); Charlottesville, Virginia - Virginia (38-17); College Station, Texas - Texas A&M (42-16); Columbia, South Carolina - South Carolina (40-17); Coral Gables, Florida - *Miami (FL) (36-20); Eugene, Oregon - *Oregon (42-16); Gainesville, Florida - Florida (42-18); Gary, Indiana - Purdue (44-12); Houston - Rice (40-17); Los Angeles - *UCLA (41-14); Palo Alto, California - *Stanford (37-16); Raleigh, North Carolina - North Carolina State (39-17); Tallahassee, Florida - Florida State (43-15); Tucson, Arizona - *Arizona (37-17); Waco, Texas - Baylor (44-14)

Three institutions are hosting for the 20th time or more as Florida State leads the list of schools with 29, Miami (FL) with 24, and LSU is hosting a regional for a 20th time. Stanford is hosting for the 15th time and South Carolina is hosting for the 14th time. Florida (11th) and Rice (10th) are the only other institutions to host 10 or more times since the NCAA went to the regional format in 1975. Texas A&M is hosting for the ninth time, while North Carolina is hosting a regional for the seventh time and Virginia for the sixth time. Arizona is hosting for the fifth time, Baylor and UCLA are hosting for a fourth time, and North Carolina St. for a third time. Rounding out the list and hosting for the first time are Purdue and Oregon.

Due to stadium construction issues, the regional hosted by Purdue will be played at U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Indiana.

Eight institutions (Florida, Florida St., North Carolina, Rice, Texas A&M, South Carolina, UCLA and Virginia) also hosted in 2011.

The remaining at-large teams, top-eight national seeds, first-round regional pairings and site assignments will be announced at Noon (ET), Monday, May 28. The one-hour program will be shown live on ESPNU. The committee will set the entire 64-team bracket through both the super regionals and the first round of the Men's College World Series, and will not reseed the field after play begins.

Selection of the eight super regional hosts will be announced on www.NCAA.com/cws, Monday, June 4 at approximately 11 p.m. (ET).