Alabama State baseball selected to NCAA Tournament, will go to Knoxville Regional
For the second time in program history, Alabama State baseball is headed to the NCAA Tournament.
The Hornets (34-23), who earned the SWAC's automatic bid by beating Southern in Sunday's conference championship game, were selected to the Knoxville Regional. The No. 4 seed, they'll face No. 1 national seed Tennessee (53-7) Friday in their first game.
No. 2 seed Georgia Tech (34-22) and No. 3 seed Campbell (40-17) were also selected to the regional, which is double elimination and runs through Sunday.
"This is not a thing where we go out there with the mindset of just competing," said ASU coach José Vásquez. "We want to continue to play baseball, we want to extend our season. We know that the road is not going to be easy. Then again, we're a good team, a team that is prepared.
"We got the pieces in place, and the expectation and the goal is to try to make it to Omaha, just like everybody else in this tournament."
Alabama State last qualified for the NCAA Tournament in 2016. The Hornets went 38-17 (24-0 in SWAC play) and won the SWAC tournament, earning the No. 4 seed in the Tallahassee Regional, where they were eliminated after losses to Florida State and South Alabama.
SWAC CHAMPIONS: Alabama State baseball outlasts Southern in 14 innings to earn NCAA Tournament berth
ASU MEN'S BASKETBALL: Three takeaways from new coach Tony Madlock's first news conference
Following that season, coach Mervyl Melendez left for the job at Florida International, and assistant coach Vásquez was promoted to replace him. Vásquez, who earned SWAC Coach of the Year honors this season, has led Alabama State to winning records in each of his six seasons and has a 77-25 record in the SWAC (160-119 overall).
Alabama State posted the best overall and conference record in the SWAC this season, going 21-8, and went unbeaten during the conference tournament.
The Hornets are hitting .291 as a team and average 7.7 runs per game. Their offense is led by SWAC Player of the Year Corey King, who is batting .367 with 14 home runs, 64 RBIs, 16 doubles and a 1.088 OPS. King hit the go-ahead RBI double in the 14th inning of the SWAC championship game.
ASU's pitching staff is headlined by All-SWAC second-teamer Breon Pooler, a right-hander who posted a 10-2 record with a 3.19 ERA and 85 strikeouts in 84⅔ innings. Pooler was named SWAC Tournament MVP after pitching 13 innings during the tournament, giving up two runs and nine hits.
"I hope people find out that SWAC baseball is just as good as any other league," King said. "We're worth every chance that we're going to get."
Tennessee cruised through the SEC, winning the conference regular season and tournament title The Vols have a 1.025 team OPS and hit a nation-high 141 home runs this season, while their pitching staff has posted a 2.35 ERA and a .191 batting average against.
"The thing that scares me is when you get to that environment there's a lot of things that you may see for the first time," Vásquez said. "You're going to see close to 10,000 fans. You just got to make sure the nerves are calm after the first pitch and know that it's just baseball."
NCAA Knoxville Regional schedule, TV times
All times CDT
Friday’s games
Game 1: No. 2 Georgia Tech (34-22) vs. No. 3 Campbell (40-17), 11 a.m., ESPN+
Game 2: No. 1 Tennessee (53-7) vs. No. 4 Alabama State (34-23), 5 p.m., SEC Network
Saturday games
Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser
Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 3 winner
Sunday's games
Game 5: Game 4 loser vs. Game 3 winner
Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner
Monday's game (if necessary)
Game 7: Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser
Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com, by phone at 334-201-9117 and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama State baseball to play Tennessee Vols in NCAA Tournament
