FRESNO - Fresno State Baseball is officially back in the NCAA Tournament as the field was announced on Monday morning with the Bulldogs being selected as the No. 3 seed in the Stanford Regional.
Fresno State (38-14-1) will open the 2019 NCAA Tournament against No. 2 seed UC Santa Barbara (45-9) on Friday, May 31 at 7 p.m. at Klein Field at Sunken Diamond on ESPN3. Stanford (41-11), the No. 11 national seed, will be the top seed in the region while WAC Tournament champion Sacramento State (39-23) claimed the No. 4 seed.
"It is going to take everything for us to have success at this regional," said head coach Mike Batesole who will make his seventh appearance in the NCAA Tournament at Fresno State. "We are going to have to pitch right, keep making the routine plays, clutch hits and there is going to have to be a little luck involved and is going to take a little bit of everything when you have these caliber of teams in the tournament."
"It is going to be great to experience a regional and I am really happy to be in it," said Mountain West Pitcher of the Year Ryan Jensen. "It will be great for the Red Wave to come and support and have a great crowd for us and we travel well which is great to see."
The Diamond 'Dogs will make their 35th NCAA Tournament appearance in program history and first since 2012, which was also at Stanford.
Overall, Fresno State is 67-74 all-time in postseason history with a 58-66 regional record mark. This will the 'Dogs fifth NCAA Regional hosted by Stanford since 1990 joining 1997, 2000 & 2012.
The Bulldogs are 2-0 all-time in postseason play against UCSB, 3-7 against Stanford and have never played Sacramento State in the postseason.
The winner of the four-team Stanford regional advances to the Super Regionals and will face the winner of the Starkville Regional. Mississippi State (46-13), the No. 6 national seed, is the top seed in the region followed by No. 2 seed Miami (39-18), No. 3 seed Central Michigan (46-12) and No. 4 seed Southern University (32-22).
2019 Stanford Regional Schedule
Friday, May 31
Game 1: No. 1 Stanford vs. No. 4 Sacramento State, 1 p.m., ESPN3
Game 2: No. 2 UC Santa Barbara vs. No. 3 Fresno State, 7 p.m., ESPN3
Saturday, June 1
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m,
Saturday, June 2
Game 5: Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 12 p.m.
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 6 p.m.
Monday, June 3
Game 7: If Necessary Game, 7 p.m.
TICKETS
Tickets to the Stanford Regional will be available here at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, May 28.
