Alabama Second Seed At Clemson

Alabama baseball will be making its 20th NCAA Regional appearance as the No. 2 seed in the Clemson Regional this weekend. The Crimson Tide (37-19) will also be making its 12th NCAA appearance in 15 years under Coach Jim Wells and will return to the site that hosted Wells’ first NCAA Regional with the Crimson Tide in 1995.

Alabama played in the 1995 NCAA Atlantic Regional hosted by Clemson, losing in the championship game to the Tigers.

“Its déjà vu,” Alabama Coach Jim Wells said. “We went there in 1995 and (Clemson) had all those first rounders. I remember they had a great team and it was a great atmosphere. We are happy to be playing in the NCAA Regionals against a quality field.”

Joining Alabama in the four-team field will be No. 1 seed Clemson (40-19), No. 3 seed Oklahoma State (32-22) and No. 4 seed Tennessee Tech (30-22). Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma State earned at-large bids to the tournament, while Tennessee Tech captured the 2009 Ohio Valley Conference to earn the league’s automatic bid.

Alabama and Oklahoma State will meet on Friday in first-round action, while Clemson will take on Tennessee Tech in the other first-round game. The times of the games have not been set.

Tickets for the 2009 Clemson Regional may be purchased online through the Clemson Athletics website beginning at 7 a.m. (EDT), Tuesday. Tickets also may be purchased over the phone [phone]) beginning at 8 a.m. (EDT), Tuesday. The books are $70 for reserved all-session books and $45 for general admission all-session books.

Alabama leads the all-time series with Oklahoma State, 2-0, with both wins coming at the College World Series. Alabama beat OSU 7-5 in 1996 and 10-3 in 1999. The 1996 game was Alabama’s first CWS game in the Wells era.

Alabama and Clemson have met 22 times, with both teams winning 11 games. The Tigers eliminated the Tide from the 1995 NCAA East Regional (7-6) and the 1996 College World Series (14-13).

Alabama owns a 4-1 series lead over Tennessee Tech, but dropped an 8-6 decision in Tuscaloosa to the Golden Eagles in 2007.

Bama is one of eight Southeastern Conference teams to make the NCAA field. The others are Arkansas, Ole Miss, LSU, Florida, Vanderbilt, South Carolina and Georgia. Ole Miss, LSU and Florida are hosting regional tournaments.

The Crimson Tide is the only team from the state of Alabama in the NCAA Tournament.

The winner of the Clemson Regional will meet the winner of the Arizona State Regional (Arizona State, Kent State, Cal Poly, Oral Roberts) in a Super Regional beginning June 5.

The College World Series in Omaha begins June 13.