With the dust settled in the conference tournaments, the 64-team field for the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament is set. And among the 64 recipients are the Michigan Wolverines, who just snuck into the field as one of the 33 at-large bids.
Let's dance! pic.twitter.com/kV7M9pn3kc
— Michigan Baseball (@umichbaseball) May 29, 2017
We'll play FGCU at 1pm ET on Friday in Chapel Hill, NC. #goblue #team151 pic.twitter.com/ahLqJqRFgr
— Michigan Baseball (@umichbaseball) May 29, 2017
Despite a 42-win season in Ann Arbor, they had to sweat out the selection show, which aired at noon ET on Monday. The Wolverines were ousted very quickly in the Big Ten Tournament, losing their first two games. That apparently set them back and hurt their resumé with the selection committee.
According to the NCAA Tournament selection committee, Michigan was literally the last team in.
— Zach Shaw (@_ZachShaw) May 29, 2017
Nevertheless, the Wolverines are back in the dance for the 23rd time in program history and the second time in three seasons. They are the 3-seed in the Chapel Hill Regional, hosted by North Carolina, who is the No. 2 overall seed in the entire tournament.
The first installment (June 2-5) of the tournament in regional play is double-elimination, played at 16 sites across the country. The winners of each 16 regionals will then advance to the Super Regionals (June 9-12). The sites are predetermined by the top eight overall seeds in the tournament:
- Oregon State (49-4)
- North Carolina (47-12)
- Florida (42-16)
- LSU (43-17)
- Texas Tech (43-15)
- TCU (42-16)
- Louisville (47-10)
- Stanford (40-14)
Michigan (42-15) will begin their tournament run on Friday, June 2 at 1 p.m. ET in Chapel Hill. They will oppose Florida Gulf Coast (42-18), winners of the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. The second game of the Chapel Hill Regional on Friday will be the host Tar Heels (47-12) facing Davidson (32-24), winners of the Atlantic 10.
The survivor of this regional will advance to next weekend’s Super Regional games that begin on June 9. The Chapel Hill Regional representative will play the winner of the Houston Regional, which would also be played in Chapel Hill.
Michigan is one of five teams from the Big Ten to make the dance, a new conference record. Conference tournament champion Iowa (38-20) is slotted in the aforementioned Houston regional, hosted by the Houston Cougars. Also making the field from the Big Ten:
- Indiana (33-22 | will play N.C. State in Lexington Regional)
- Maryland (37-21 | will play West Virginia in Winston-Salem Regional)
- Nebraska (35-20; Big Ten regular season champions | will play Yale in Corvallis Regional)
For a complete look at the NCAA Tournament bracket, you can click here. All games can be seen on the ESPN family of networks, either on TV or online.
