ST. GEORGE – Dixie State has earned a No. 5 seed in the 2014 NCAA West Baseball Regional and will travel to the campus of UC San Diego for competition beginning Thursday.
The Red Storm (35-15) will open postseason play against the No. 2 seed in the regional, the Wildcats of Chico State (39-13), on Thursday at a 3 p.m. (PST) at Triton Ballpark. The host Tritons (35-14) will face No. 6 California Collegiate Athletic Association rival Sonoma State (27-16) in one match-up at 7 p.m. while third-seeded California Baptist (37-13) tangles with Cal Poly Pomona (32-15) in the opener at 11 a.m. The regional setup features a six-team, double-elimination format.
Dixie State will appear in the West Regional for a third consecutive season, making them just one of three teams to return to the NCAAs from last season’s participants (Chico, Sonoma). DSU hosted last year in their second postseason appearance after making the 2012 regional final in Kaiser, Ore.
The Storm finished the year with a 26-6 record in the Pacific West, the most conference wins in NCAA school history and good enough for a third league title in six years.
The Pacific West will send two teams to this year’s West Regional. Dixie State and CBU will represent the league. The Lancers will make their first NCAA postseason appearance. Four schools from the CCAA round out the field. For the first time since 2010, no representative from the Great Northwest Athletic Conference made the West Regional.
The 48-team NCAA Tournament bracket was unveiled on NCAA.com on Sunday night.
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