Georgia Tech, which Sunday claimed the program’s second ACC title in three years and ninth overall, has earned its 30th all-time berth in the NCAA Tournament. The Yellow Jackets are the No. 3 seed in Oxford, Miss., and will face No. 2 seed Washington today at 4 p.m. on ESPN3 at Oxford-University Stadium.
Ole Miss is the region’s top-seed and battles Jacksonville State tonight at 8 on ESPN3. The winner of the four-team, double-elimination regional faces the Louisiana-Lafayette Regional winner in Super Regional play the following weekend.
“Anytime you make a regional it’s an exciting time,” said head coach Danny Hall. “I know Washington is a very good team. They finished very high in the Pac-12, and the overall No. 1 seed in the tournament (Oregon State) is from the Pac-12 so I know they’ll be an outstanding ball team. Ole Miss is a great ball park and I know this will be a great regional.”
Tech has appeared in seven consecutive NCAA Regionals, in 28 of the last 30 and in 30 all time. Over the last 30 years, only the 30 appearances by Florida State and Miami lead Tech’s 28 berths in that span.
Tech is 68-59 (.535) in NCAA Tournament action and that includes a 4-5 record in three trips to the College World Series (1994, 2002 and 2006). Away from Russ Chandler Stadium, the Jackets are 40-40 (.500) in the NCAA postseason, including the CWS.
Tech has reached the regional final in each of the last six years, including last year in Nashville when the Jackets took the nation’s overall No. 2-seed Vanderbilt to a winner-take-all game.
The Jackets are 2-2 all-time versus Washington in NCAA play, last facing the Huskies in the 1997 Starkville, Miss., Regional. All-time, Washington leads the series 5-4. Tech beat Jacksonville State, 16-3, in the opening game of the 2004 Atlanta Regional in the team’s only postseason meeting and is 6-1 all-time versus the Gamecocks.
Tech is 5-2 all-time versus Ole Miss, but the regional rivals have not met since 1959 — and never in the postseason.
Of the 64 teams in the field, the Atlantic Coast Conference boasts seven, including national seeds Virginia and Florida State. Maryland, which the Jackets beat in Sunday’s ACC title game 9-4, is also in the field, along with Miami, North Carolina and Clemson.
The Ramblin’ Wreck enters the NCAA regional after winning four times in five games during the ACC tournament to claim the program’s ninth tournament crown (tied for most in ACC history with Clemson). Tech has won seven of its last nine games overall and brings a 36-25 record to Oxford.
About the Washington Huskies
The Washington Huskies bring a 39-15-1 record into the NCAA postseason and went 21-9 in the Pac 12, but won just one of their last five games. As a team, the Huskies hit .281, led by the .361 average and five homers from Brian Wolfe. The team pitches to a 3.23 ERA, led by ace Tyler Davis, who is 10-2 with a 1.75 ERA in 97.2 innings.