May 15, 2016

Tampa Earns Top Seed In NCAA South Region

The Spartans will host its 12th regional.

INDIANAPOLIS - The University of Tampa baseball team has been awarded the 2016 NCAA Division II South Region Baseball Tournament, which will include a total of seven teams. The double-elimination tourney will begin Thursday and end with Monday's regional title games.

The region will feature several national powers as seven of the last 12 NCAA II national champions will be among the field. Tampa won the 2006, 2007, 2013 and 2015 championships as fellow Sunshine State Conference opponent Lynn University won in 2009. Delta State took the crown in 2004 and West Florida won the title in 2011, as they represented the South Region and Gulf South Conference during its championship seasons.

Receiving automatic bids for the tournament are Claflin University, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference winners and Delta State University after taking the 2014 GSC crown. Top seed Tampa earned an automatic bid after taking its 17th SSC title with a 20-4 conference record. The remaining four at-large bids go to Nova Southeastern University, Lynn University, the University of West Florida and the University of West Georgia.

The University of Tampa will enter postseason play with an overall record of 41-8 and enter the tournament as the reigning NCAA Champions.

This marks the 17th straight NCAA tournament appearance for Tampa, as head coach Joe Urso has advanced to the tourney in each of his 16 seasons at the helm. UT has hosted the regional a total of 12 times (including 2016) as the last time the regional was at the UT Baseball Field came during the 2014 season.

Please visit tampaspartans.com/tournaments/bsb/index for the official tournament page.

Tickets will be available at the gate for $10 (adults) and $5 (students and senior citizens).

Tampa will offer live stats and a video webcast for all South Regional games. A link will be available at the regional Web page, and may also be accessed through TampaSpartans.tv.

Following is the complete schedule for the 2016 NCAA II South Regional.

Thursday, May 19, 2016

Game 1 No. 4 Delta State vs. No. 5 Lynn, 11 a.m.

Game 2 No. 2 West Florida vs. No. 7 Claflin, 3 p.m.

Game 3 No. 3 Nova Southeastern vs. No. 6 West Georgia, 7 p.m.

Friday, May 20, 2016

Game 4 Loser of Game 2 vs. Loser of Game 3, 11 a.m.

Game 5 No. 1 Tampa vs. Winner of Game 1, 3 p.m.

Game 6 Winner of Game 2 vs. Winner of Game 3, 7 p.m.

Saturday, May 21, 2016

Game 7 Winner of Game 4 vs. Loser of Game 5, 11 a.m.

Game 8 Loser of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 1, 3 p.m.

Game 9 Winner of Game 5 vs. Winner of Game 6, 7 p.m.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Game 10 Winner of Game 8 vs. Winner of Game 7, 12 p.m.

Game 11 Winner of Game 10 vs. Loser of Game 9, 3:30 p.m.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Game 12 Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 11, 12 p.m.

Game 13 same teams, if necessary, 3:30 p.m.