Video: Mississippi State Eager to Begin the Road to Omaha in Hattiesburg

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI/MSU Athletics) – For the 36th time in program history, Mississippi State is headed to the NCAA Tournament and will begin its postseason run in the Hattiesburg Regional, the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee announced Monday.

Two-seed MSU (36-24) will be joined in the four-team regional by host Southern Miss (48-14), three-seed and Sun Belt Conference Tournament Champion South Alabama (39-19) and four-seed and Horizon League Tournament Champion University of Illinois at Chicago (39-15).

State will kick off its Hattiesburg Regional schedule at Pete Taylor Park on Friday at 6 p.m. against South Alabama in the double-elimination regional format. Friday’s meeting between the Bulldogs and Jaguars will be the fourth time the two sides have met this season, State won two of the first three meetings, and the second all-time NCAA Tournament meeting between MSU and USA (The first came in the 2013 Starkville Regional, a 6-2 win for State in the 1-0 game).

MSU has never played UIC in the history of the two programs, while State has already played Southern Miss once in 2017 (A 7-5 midweek win for the Golden Eagles in Pearl, Miss.). State and USM have only met once before in the NCAA Tournament, a 3-0 win for MSU in the opening game of the 2011 Atlanta Regional.

The winner of the Hattiesburg Regional will take on the winner of the Baton Rouge Regional for a best-of-three Super Regional series with a trip to the College World Series at stake.

REGIONAL SCHEDULE (All times CT)
Friday, June 2, 2017
G1 – 1 p.m. – No. 1 Southern Miss vs. No. 4 UIC
G2 – 6 p.m. – No. 2 Mississippi State vs. No. 3 South Alabama

Saturday, June 3, 2017
G3 – 1 p.m. – Loser of G1 vs. Loser of G2
G4 – 6 p.m. – Winner of G1 vs. Winner of G2

Sunday, June 4, 2017
G5 – 1 p.m.  –  Winner of G3 vs. Loser of G4
G6 – 6 p.m. – Winner of G4 vs. Winner of G5

Monday, June 5, 2017
* G7 – 6 p.m. – If Necessary

TICKET INFO
Hattiesburg Regional tickets will not be available through the MSU ticket office. Tickets will go on sale to the general public through the Southern Miss ticket office on Wednesday at 1 p.m. Additional information regarding for the weekend is available through the Southern Miss website.