Missouri earns spot in regional play

The Missouri baseball team will make its third-straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers will face Arizona in regional play at 6 p.m. Friday in Fullerton, Calif.

It is the first time the Tigers made the tournament three straight years, and Missouri joins Texas as the only Big 12 Conference teams to make the tournament in each of the past three seasons. This will be Missouri’s 17th trip to the tournament.

Missouri (39-21), the No. 3 seed in the regional, hopes to fare better than last year. The Tigers made a quick exit in 2004, losing their first two regional games to Arkansas and Wichita State.

No. 2 seed Arizona (37-19) is also making its third-consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Wildcats finished second in the Pac-10 Conference with a 17-7 league record.

The Wildcats are led by junior outfielder Trevor Crowe. USA Baseball announced May 25 that Crowe was one of five finalists for the Golden Spikes Award, presented to the top collegiate baseball player.

The top-seeded team in the region, host Cal State-Fullerton (41-15), will face fourth-seed Harvard in the other regional match.

Cal State is looking to defend its national title, and enters the tournament as the No. 6 seed nationally.

The Tigers advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 Conference Tournament but Nebraska, the No. 3 nationally-seeded team, eliminated them.

Nebraska defeated the Tigers twice in the Big 12 semifinals on Saturday, 5-4 and 17-9. The Cornhuskers beat Baylor in the finals Sunday to clinch the conference championship.A big reason for the Tigers success this season has been the pitching of sophomore Max Scherzer.

Scherzer was named the Big 12 Conference Pitcher of the Year, and set the school single season strikeout record this year with 128 strikeouts.

Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma and Nebraska also made the tournament from the Big 12.