NCAA baseball regionals: Indiana State gets to host; IU, Ball State head to Lexington
The Hoosier State will be well-represented in the 2023 NCAA Division I baseball tournament.
Missouri Valley Conference champion Indiana State will host a regional and earned a No. 14 national seed. The Sycamores open with Wright State, with Iowa and North Carolina playing in the the other side of the bracket.
Indiana earned an at-large bid out of the Big Ten and were grouped in the Lexington Regional with Mid-American Conference tournament champion Ball State. The Hoosiers will open tournament play against West Virginia, while the Cardinals begin with host and 12th-seeded Kentucky.
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Lexington Regional schedule, TV info
All games Friday.
Kentucky (36-18) vs. Ball State (36-21), noon, SEC Network
West Virginia (39-18) vs. Indiana (41-18), 7 p.m., ESPN+
Terre Haute Regional schedule, TV info
Indiana State (42-15) vs. Wright State (39-21), 1 p.m., ESPN+
Iowa (42-14) vs. North Carolina (35-22), 7 p.m., ACC Network
How Indiana State qualified for NCAA baseball tournament
The Sycamores have an RPI of No. 9, won the MVC regular-season and tournament titles and won 34 of their last 38 games. That resume was good enough to make Terre Haute one of 16 regional host sites.
Indiana State is the first MVC school selected to host a regional since 2015.
This year's team set new program record for MVC wins (24) and its six-game margin in winning conference's regular-season title was the largest in the MVC since 1998.
The Sycamores are back in the NCAA tournament for the third time in the past four seasons (the 2020 tournament was canceled due to COVID) and 12th time overall in program history.
How IU qualified for NCAA baseball tournament
The Hoosiers earned an at-large bid after finishing second in the Big Ten regular season standings (16-8). IU entered the final weekend of the regular season with a chance to win the league title, but Maryland bettered the Hoosiers' results in the final three games.
Video proof IU is excited to be selected into the 2/3 game in the Lexington Regional. Kentucky the No. 1, as this is college baseball and not Paul Revere’s ride through Boston. #iubase pic.twitter.com/bASHJ8Wxgi
— Zach Osterman (@ZachOsterman) May 29, 2023
IU lost to Iowa and Michigan in the Big Ten tournament but its RPI (No. 30) was strong enough for an at-large bid. This season was the program's sixth 40-win campaign and earned the Hoosiers a 10th trip to NCAA regionals.
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How Ball State qualified for NCAA baseball tournament
The Cardinals got a ninth-inning grand slam from Adam Tellier to secure Ball State's second MAC tournament championship (2006), and first under longtime coach Rich Maloney.
As Tellier rounded for home plate to meet a mob of Cardinals exploding with excitement, the 58-year-old Maloney spryly jogged right behind him. The weight of 18 years, over 600 wins and six previous shortcomings in the championship was all but ready to dissolve. Then Jacob Hartlaub closed out Ball State's roller coaster 12-9 victory over No. 1-seeded Kent State and the celebration began.
"It's surreal right now. Just so happy for my players. I'm happy for alums because, like I say, we've accomplished everything we could in this program in the time I've had the privilege of coaching at Ball State, 18 years, minus punching our ticket," Maloney told Gus Martin of the Muncie Star Press. "I'm just happy for our whole Ball State family because we have a great, great tradition, and this is what we needed to happen and it finally happened. I'm just thankful."
The moment @BallStateBB found out where they are headed for the NCAA Baseball Championship! #ChirpChirp | #MACtion pic.twitter.com/eUchcJ2qpe
— #MACtion (@MACSports) May 29, 2023
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: NCAA baseball regionals: Indiana State gets to host; IU, Ball State in
