Georgia Southern Extra: Tough ticket to see Eagles, Notre Dame, Texas Tech, UNC Greensboro

The hottest ticket in Statesboro features Eagles, Irish, Red Raiders and Spartans.

The Eagles in this case are the Georgia Southern baseball team, which makes its 14th NCAA regional appearance in school history and hosts a regional for the first time this week at J.I. Clements Stadium on campus.

The Statesboro Regional features No. 16 national seed and No. 1 regional seed Georgia Southern (40-18), the No. 2 seed Notre Dame Irish (35-14), the No. 3 seed Texas Tech Red Raiders (37-20) and the No. 4 seed UNC Greensboro Spartans (34-28). The four teams will compete beginning Friday, June 3, in a double-elimination format for a berth in the Super Regional round against the winner of the Knoxville Regional beginning June 10.

The Knoxville Regional features No. 1 national seed Tennessee, which will be hosting No. 2 seed Georgia Tech, No. 3 seed Campbell and No. 4 seed Alabama State.

The Super Regional champions (from a best-of-three games format) advance to the College World Series beginning June 17 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska.

But before we get too far ahead, the original field of 64 begins play this week for 30 teams with Division I conference automatic berths along with 34 at-large selections such as Georgia Southern.

If you host it, they will come

Reserved seating for every game in the Statesboro Regional officially sold out, Georgia Southern Athletics announced on Tuesday afternoon.

The department put a limited number of standing-room only tickets on sale on Wednesday, June 1, at 9 a.m. The cost of the tickets were $50, and they were All-Regional tickets, so the one-time $50 purchase will get the ticket holder into every game in the Statesboro Regional. Those tickets were available for purchase at GSEagles.com/Tickets.

As of early Wednesday afternoon, director of athletics Jared Benko wrote on his Twitter account that less than 100 SRO tickets remained.

Some single-game tickets could become available as the week goes on, depending on how many tickets the visiting teams do not sell and return from their allotment.

All 16 regionals have four teams, filling out a field of 64. All regionals will play in a double-elimination format from Friday, June 3, to Sunday, June 5, with an "if-necessary" game on Monday, June 6.

The Sun Belt Conference is represented by Georgia Southern, Coastal Carolina, Texas State and tournament champion and automatic qualifier Louisiana.

The first game of the Statesboro Regional will be between No. 2 seed Notre Dame and No. 3 seed Texas Tech on Friday at 2 p.m. Georgia Southern faces No. 4 seed and Southern Conference champion UNC Greensboro at 7 p.m. on Friday.

Georgia Southern and UNC Greensboro were rivals in their days as Southern Conference members, where the Eagles hold a 29-27 advantage in the all-time series. Georgia Southern has never faced Notre Dame and Texas Tech in baseball.

Statesboro Regional schedule

FRIDAY

Game 1 — #2 Notre Dame (35-14) vs. #3 Texas Tech (37-20), 2 p.m., ACCN

Game 2 — #1 Georgia Southern (40-18) vs. #4 UNC Greensboro (34-28), 7 p.m., ESPN+

SATURDAY

Game 3 — Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, 1 p.m.

Game 4 — Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 7 p.m.

SUNDAY

Game 5 — Game 3 winner vs. Game 4 loser, 2 p.m.

Game 6 — Game 5 winner vs. Game 4 winner, 7 p.m.

MONDAY

Game 7 — Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser (if necessary), 6 p.m.

MEN'S GOLF

Eagles contend at NCAA Championships in Arizona

Georgia Southern senior Mason Williams was the last man standing for the Eagles golf team at the NCAA Championships on Monday, May 30.

Williams (69-73-74-71—287) birdied three of his final five holes to shoot a 71 and tie for 20th at 7-over par at the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Williams, from Bridgeport, West Virginia, finished in a tie with four other golfers, one stroke back of five-way tie for 15th. Vanderbilt freshman Gordon Sargent (even par) took home medalist honors by winning a four-way playoff over Ryan Burnett of North Carolina, Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra of Oklahoma State and Parker Coody of Texas.

On Monday, the field was cut to 15 teams, and the top eight teams advanced to match play Tuesday. Georgia Southern finished 25th in the team standings.

"Amazing week of grind for the team and program to cap off one of the best seasons in program history," GS head coach Carter Collins said Sunday in a press release.

"This course was extremely tough, as was the course set-up," he continued. "Add the desert wind to our final two afternoon rounds, and it was one of the toughest grinds I've been a part of as a coach.

"Although we didn't meet all of our goals for the week, being one of the final 30 teams in the country is an accomplishment that we hope Eagle Nation is proud of. Two trips to NCAA Nationals in the previous three, and the best is yet to come."

On May 29, Williams and enior teammate Ben Carr were selected PING All-Region by the Golf Coaches Association of America.

Players in six regions — Northeast, East, Southeast, Midwest, Central and West — earned all-region accolades for 2022 and advance to the ballot for PING All-America honors.

Named All-Sun Belt first team for second consecutive season, Carr entered the week leading the SBC in scoring average (70.21) and ranked 49th by Golfstat. He has placed in the top-eight in nine of 11 events he had played this season, including five top-fives and a victory at the Bank of Tennessee Collegiate. Carr, from Columbus, Georgia, has shot par or better in 25 rounds, including 16 in the 60s.

Williams was selected All-SBC first team and entered the week ranked 48th nationally by Golfstat. He had six top-10s in eight events to his credit this season with a win in the Thomas Sharkey Individual Collegiate. Williams has shot par or better in 15 of 23 rounds and entered the week ranked third in the SBC in scoring average (71.08).

For more coverage of Georgia Southern athletics, go to https://www.savannahnow.com/sports/college/georgia-southern/

Nathan Dominitz is the Sports Content Editor of the Savannah Morning News and savannahnow.com. Email him at ndominitz@savannahnow.com. Twitter: @NathanDominitz

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Georgia Southern baseball NCAA regional with Notre Dame, Texas Tech