UH receives No. 3 seed at Chapel Hill Regional
Purdue up first for Cougars in 4-team bracket
Out of the regional host discussion this year, the University of Houston knew it would have to take the show on the road during the postseason.
UH (36-23) was selected to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in the past five years Monday and will be the No. 3 seed in the Chapel Hill (N.C.) Regional. The Cougars will face second-seeded Purdue (37-19) at 6 p.m. Friday.
The other half of the four-team, double-elimination bracket includes perennial powerhouse and No. 6 national seed North Carolina (38-18) and fourth-seeded North Carolina A&T (32-23), which is making its second NCAA appearance in school history.
The Chapel Hill Regional winner advances to face the winner of the DeLand (Fla.) Regional, which features Stetson, South Florida, Oklahoma State and Hartford.
“Good thing about it is we’ve been on the road a couple of weeks now,” UH coach Todd Whitting said. “We’re battle-tested. I don’t think we’re roadweary at all. This team has a great mindset, as good as any I’ve been around.”
Regular-season champs
The Cougars played their final home game May 6, finishing the regular season with six games away from Schroeder Park and five games in four days last week at the American Athletic Conference tournament in Clearwater, Fla.
UH won the AAC regular-season title — the fourth-rated conference behind the SEC, Big 12 and ACC — but a Rating Percentage Index (RPI) in the low 40s prevented consideration for one of the 16 regional host sites. After hosting two of the past three years, the Cougars will play the farthest from home to open the postseason since the Mesa (Ariz.) Regional in 2002.
“We expect to be in the tournament every year,” second baseman Connor Hollis said. “You can take that one of two ways as pressure or something to be excited about. We take that as something to be excited about and help prove to other people that we do belong.”
UH last advanced past the opening round in 2014, winning the Baton Rouge (La.) Regional before losing twice to the University of Texas in the super regional. The Cougars hosted a regional in 2015 and 2017 but failed to advance.
With a tournament-worthy résumé, the Cougars expected to be in this year’s field, although they had to wait until the last few regional brackets were unveiled to hear their name. There was a collective groan in the TDECU Stadium Club when the Cougars were not selected to the Austin Regional, which includes Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Southern and Indiana.
“We can’t go in and take anybody lightly,” said designated hitter Joe Davis, the school’s career home run leader with 32. “We got in and that’s what matters. It doesn’t matter where we are playing.
“It’s about time we get to a super regional.”
Purdue enters the tournament — the third appearance in school history — winners of 21 of its last 24 games. North Carolina is hosting for the 10th time and has advanced to super regionals six times since the current format was adopted in 1999.
Raiders rated No. 9 seed
Texas Tech (39-17), the No. 9 national seed, will host New Mexico State (40-20) in the Lubbock Regional.
Baylor (36-19), the Big 12 tournament champion, drew a tough assignment as the No. 2 seed in the Stanford (Calif.) Regional. The Bears open against third-seeded Cal State Fullerton (32-23), which is making its 27th consecutive NCAA appearance. A date with Stanford would likely follow for the Bears.
Dallas Baptist (40-19) was one of the last teams to make the field, giving the state of Texas seven schools among the 64team field.
Two notable teams not in the field: Rice (26-31-2) had its streak of 23 straight appearances snapped, and TCU (33-23) will also stay home after making four straight trips to the College World Series.