The road to Omaha begins Friday, as the 2012 NCAA Baseball Tournament starts at 16 different regional sites which each will feature four teams playing a double-elimination tournament. Now, if you're a college baseball fan there's a lot of action to follow, so SB Nation New York figured to put together some capsules together to help you get acquainted with each of the local programs. Here's a rundown of the Manhattan Jaspers.
Regional: Columbia -- Carolina Stadium in Columbia, SC.
Opponents: South Carolina (40-17), Coastal Carolina (41-17), Clemson Tigers (33-26)
Breakdown: Manhattan, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Champions, will begin its NCAA Tournament journey at 4 p.m. ET against top-seeded South Carolina. This will be the fourth all-time appearance, second straight, for the Jaspers in the NCAAs, which featured Manhattan being eliminated in the first round last season.
Players to watch: Senior Taylor Sewitt (11-1, 2.40 ERA) and righty John Soldinger (6-5, 3.43) make-up possibly the best 1-2 punch in the Regional, while Jacob Marchus (1-1, 1.31, 8 saves) is a solid closer.
Center fielder Anthony Vega (.336, 5 HRs, 31 RBIs, 32 SBs), second baseman Nick Camastro (.319, 28 RBIs), shortstop Yoandry Galan (.293, 22 RBIs) and catcher Ramon Ortega (.274, 7, 51) are the core hitters in the Jaspers' lineup.
Watch/listen ESPN3.com.
For more on the NCAA Baseball Tournament, check back to this SB Nation New York StoryStream.