Tampa Baseball Receives 19th Straight NCAA Tournament Bid

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA has announced its field for the 2018 baseball tournament as the University of Tampa was chosen as the No. 2 seed in the South Region. The number-one seed and host for the regional is Florida Southern College. The regional will be played from May 17-21 at Henley Field in Lakeland, Fla.

Tampa will open play at the regional on Thursday when it meets No. 7 seed Albany State University. The two teams met on March 9-10 as the Rams took two of three in a series played in Albany, Ga. The two teams have only met one time in the NCAA Tournament, with UT taking a 14-0 victory in 2006, a year where the Spartans won the national championship.

Tampa enters postseason play with a record of 39-9. UT also captured its 19th Sunshine State Conference championship as it finished league play with a record of 27-3 as the 27 victories marked an SSC record.

The seven-time national champion Spartans have appeared in the NCAA tournament for 19 straight seasons, including each of head coach Joe Urso's 18 seasons at the helm. Overall, UT has played in 33 NCAA tournaments.

The NCAA Division II Baseball Committee selected 56 teams to compete at eight regional sites, including 23 automatic qualifiers. All regionals will be double-elimination tournaments and the winners of the regionals will advance to the championship finals, May 26-June 2 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

2018 NCAA South Regional Bracket