By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The dream season of the No. 22 Tennessee Tech baseball team will continue into the NCAA Tournament, as the Golden Eagles earned a bid as the No. 2 seed in the Oxford Regional.
The purple and gold will pack its bags and make the trip to Oxford, Miss. for its second straight NCAA appearance and sixth overall in program history. Tech will kick off play against the regional's No. 3 seed Missouri State (39-15) at 2 p.m. CT on Friday. The Oxford Regional host, and overall No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament, is Ole Miss (46-15), who will take on the region's No. 4 seed Saint Louis (38-18) at 6:30 p.m. on Friday.
Tech becomes the first Ohio Valley Conference baseball team ever to earn an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament after shattering numerous records in one of the greatest seasons ever produced by a team from the league. The Golden Eagles own a program and league-record 48 wins on the year, a total that leads the nation. Tech also represents just the second No. 2 seed in an NCAA Regional in OVC history.
The 2018 Tech squad dominated the OVC regular season, finishing with a conference-record 27-3 mark and stringing together a league-record 28-game winning streak along the way. Overall, the Golden Eagles won all 10 conference series and 13 of its 14 regular season series. Tech also finished a perfect 11-0 in midweek action.
Heading into the NCAA postseason, Tech leads the nation batting average, hits, home runs, home runs per game, on base percentage, runs, scoring, slugging percentage and win/loss percentage. The Golden Eagles have blasted a whopping 128 home runs on the year, a single-season record for the OVC and by far the most ever by an NCAA Division I team during the BBCOR bat era.
The double-elimination regional tournament is scheduled for June 1-4 at Oxford-University Stadium/Swayze Field. The weekend's winner will then be one of just 16 teams from across the country to advance to the NCAA Super Regional, June 8-11.
Photo by Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information