ORLANDO (UCFKnights.com) – The 2017 American Athletic Conference regular season champion UCF baseball team is set to begin the NCAA Tallahassee Regional Championship this weekend at Florida State University.
As the No. 2 seed in the four-team regional, the Knights (40-20) will take on No. 3 seed Auburn (35-24) in the first round Friday at noon on ESPN2. The winner will advance to take on either the No. 1 seed Seminoles (39-20) or No. 4 seed Tennessee Tech (40-19) Saturday at 7 p.m.
The double elimination tournament at Dick Howser Stadium includes Elimination Bracket games on Saturday at noon and Sunday at 1 p.m. with a potential championship game later on Sunday at 7 p.m. If the winner of the Elimination Bracket wins Sunday night's contest, a final match-up between the two remaining teams is scheduled for Monday at 7 p.m.
Tickets are available at Seminoles.com by CLICKING HERE.
No. 22 UCF has enjoyed its best season since 2012 in its first under head coach Greg Lovelady. The American Coach of the Year has led the Knights to their most wins five years and took a team that finished last in the conference a year ago to a regular season title with a league record of 15-9.
The Knights have won four of their last six games, which included the final two outings of the regular season that clinched The American title. After winning at home against rival USF, UCF won two-of-four games in the league tournament in Clearwater, before falling to East Carolina in the semifinals.
The 2017 American Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year Robby Howell will get the nod in game one against the Tigers. The senior currently holds a 10-0 record on the mound with a 3.28 ERA and 90 strikeouts in 96.0 innings pitched.
No. 23 Auburn makes their way to Tallahassee for the program's 20th postseason appearance in 2017. The Tigers were 32-14 in early May, before dropping seven straight games and going just 3-10 overall in their last 13 outings down the stretch. Auburn defeated Ole Miss in the first round of the SEC Tournament before losing to Florida and Arkansas.
Keegan Thompson will take the mound for Auburn on Friday. The redshirt junior is 6-4 on the year with a 2.43 ERA and 66 strikeouts to just 16 walks. Jonah Todd leads the Tigers offense as the only Auburn playing batting above .300. The junior outfielder is hitting .385 with 13 doubles, five triples and 36 runs batted in.
Auburn holds a 4-1 record against UCF in the all-time series. The last meeting between the two teams was 1998.
Ranked No. 15 in the nation, Florida State has won its last six games, including four straight en route to its second ACC Tournament Championship in the last three years and seventh overall. The Seminoles will play host to the NCAA Regionals for the seventh straight season and the 34th time in the history of the program.
Florida State holds a 33-6 advantage over UCF in the all-time series and won a pair of mid-week games in Orlando against the Knights this season. The Seminoles won 5-2 back on March 7 and then won 5-0 on March 8 at the UCF Baseball Complex.
The four seed in the tournament, Tennessee Tech earned its berth to the NCAA Regionals as an automatic qualifier out of the Ohio Valley Conference. The top seeded Golden Eagles won three straight games to earn its first spot in the NCAAs since 2009.
UCF holds a 2-1 advantage over Tennessee Tech in the history of the two programs, winning a three-game series against the Golden Eagles back in 2000.
The entirety of the NCAA Tallahassee Regional will be available on WatchESPN and the ESPN app. Live Stats will also be available via NCAA.com and fans can keep up with the Knights all weekend long on social media (@UCF_Baseball on Twitter, @UCF.Baseball on Instagram, /UCFBaseball on Facebook).
