Seton Hall earned the Big East Conference's automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Baseball Tournament by defeating St. John's, 4-2, Sunday to win the Conference Championship. The Pirates and Red Storm will both, however, be part of the 64-team field that was unveiled earlier today. Manhattan is also part of the field.
Seton Hall (33-23) will be the No. 3 seed in the College Station Region. Seton Hall is making its first NCAA Baseball Tournament appearance since 2001. The Pirates will face second-seeded Arizona in their opening game.
St. John's will be the No. 3 seed in the Charlottesville Regional. The Red Storm (35-20) will face second-seeded East Carolina on Friday.
Manhattan, which went 34-17, is the fourth seed in the Gainesville Regional. The Jaspers will face top-seeded Florida Friday afternoon. The Jaspers won their first Metro Atlanta Athletic Conference (MAAC) title since 2006 over the weekend.
Connecticut, which had been the top seed in the Big East Conference Baseball Tournament, will be the second seed in the Clemson Regional and will open against Coastal Carolina.
The tournament is broken down into 16 four-team regions. The first round is a double-elimination event that will begin June 3 and conclude June 6, followed by eight 'Super Regional' tournaments June 10-13. The College World Series will be held June 18-28.29.
Here are the top eight seeds.
- Virginia (49-9)
- Florida (45-16)
- North Carolina (45-14)
- South Carolina (45-14)
- Florida (42-17)
- Vanderbilt (47-10)
- Texas (43-15)
- Rice (41-19)