The Georgia Tech baseball team was assigned to the Oxford, Miss., regional to begin NCAA tournament play. The Yellow Jackets were given a No. 3 seed, along with top seed Mississippi, No. 2 seed Washington and No. 4 seed Jacksonville State. Play in the double-elimination regional begins Friday. Tech will play Washington Friday at 4 p.m.
The Yellow Jackets (35-25) earned an automatic berth Sunday by beating Maryland 9-4 in the ACC championship game in Greensboro, N.C., their ninth ACC title. It’s Tech’s 28th NCAA tournament berth in the past 30 years.
“I think it’s certainly a tough field,” coach Danny Hall said. “I know that Washington finished second in the Pac-12. Oregon State’s the No. 1 seed in the whole thing. That just tells me that Washington is a really good team and I have some scouts that have come through here that have seen a lot of college games that have told me that Washington is really good, and this is a month ago. Ole Miss, they’ve been a perennial power in the SEC, and I know (they) have great fan support. I know it’s going to be a tough regional, as they all are.”
The Rebels (41-18) are No. 14 in RPI. Washington (38-15-1) is No. 25. Jacksonville State (35-25) is No. 98. Tech is No. 35. Against common opponents - Georgia State and Georgia - Tech is 4-1 and Mississippi is 4-2.
The Rebels are No. 14 in the country in batting average (.303) and 17th in ERA (2.76). The Huskies are 79th in batting average (.280) and 48th in ERA (3.23). They are second in the country in walks (82) and fifth in fielding percentage (.981). Jacksonville State is 29th in batting average (.294), 188th in ERA (4.61) and fourth in doubles (125).
Tech is 86th in batting average (.279), 55th in earned run average (3.28) and first in double plays (73).
If Tech and Mississippi meet - they would if they both win their opening games - the schools will have met in football, men’s basketball and baseball. The Rebels are 2-0 thus far, having beaten Tech in the Music City Bowl and at the Barclays Classic in New York in basketball.
By car, Oxford, Miss., is about five hours and 45 minutes from Atlanta.
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