Georgia Tech didn't receive one of the eight national seeds in the NCAA baseball tournament field announced Monday, even with the necessary RPI, but the Yellow Jackets coach and players were still happy with draw.
The Yellow Jackets (40-19), with a No. 8 RPI according to the website boydsworld.com, will open regional play against Austin Peay at 7 p.m. on Friday night at Russ Chandler Stadium. Southern Mississippi, the regular-season winner of Conference USA, will take on Mississippi State at 3 p.m.
Tim Weiser of the NCAA selection committee said Tech's non-conference RPI and its ACC tournament loss to Florida State cost it a chance for a seed.
Tech coach Danny Hall pointed to Tech's 17-9 record in non-conference games as a likely factor in the committee's decision. He also noted the overall strength of the ACC, which had seven teams selected.
"They don't want to stack four or five teams in the top eight unless it's an absolute no-brainer, I'm sure of that," said Hall, who has led Tech to 16 regional appearances in 18 years.
Georgia (31-30), which qualified for the NCAA tournament after a strong performance at the SEC tournament, must travel to Corvallis, Ore., and will play Creighton in its first game. Oregon State, the region's top seed, will host Arkansas-Little Rock.
Geographic ties usually are considered when sorting regionals to reduce travel time for teams and fans, but Weiser said the committee felt putting Georgia in Oregon created more balance. The Bulldogs needed to play well at the SEC tourney just to have a winning record.
"I was a little surprised we're going out there to Oregon State with so many ACC teams hosting, and they usually match SEC teams with them, but this is a great opportunity to go west and have some fun," Georgia coach Dave Perno said in a statement.
The ACC and SEC dominated the national seeds: Virginia (No. 1), Florida (2), North Carolina (3), South Carolina (4), Florida State (5) and Vanderbilt (6). Each of the 16 winners of the double-elimination regionals will advance to a best-of-three Super Regionals. Those winners advance to the College World Series, which begins June 18 in Omaha, Neb., at TD Ameritrade Park.
Tech has a tough region. Austin Peay won the Ohio Valley Conference regular season and swept through its tournament. The Governors (33-22) are led by pitchers Jeremy Dobbs (9-2, 3.43 ERA) and Jack Snodgrass (3-6, 3.72), and John Hogan (.317, 13 homers).
The Jackets are familiar with Southern Miss: The Golden Eagles (39-17) knocked Tech out of the Atlanta regional two years ago. B.A. Vollmuth, who slugged two home runs in the same inning against Tech to win that regional, returns with a .303 average and 12 homers.
Mississippi State (34-23) had a disappointing season by its standards. The eight-time College World Series entrant finished second in the SEC West with a 14-16 conference record. The losers of Friday's games will play at 3 p.m. Saturday; the winners meet at 7 p.m.
Georgia, making its 10th NCAA appearance after playing one of the nation's toughest-rated schedules, also has a difficult region. Creighton (44-14) won the Missouri Valley Conference regular-season and tournament titles. Making their ninth tournament appearance, the Bluejays are led by Trever Adams (.392, 14 homers) and Jonas Dufek (11-1, 2.17). Corvallis regional game times have not been released.
Georgia Southern also made the NCAA field and will play at South Carolina.
