Clemson Baseball Selected to NCAA Regional at Arkansas

May 24, 1999

CLEMSON, SC — Clemson (37-24) was chosen as a #2 seed in the NCAA Baseball Regional in Fayetteville, Arkansas, which is hosted by the University of Arkansas, who is the #1 seed. Clemson’s first-round opponent will be the third-seeded Southwest Missouri State Bears (36-17) of the Missouri Valley Conference. The two teams will play at 3:00 PM EST on Friday.

Arkansas (41-21), of the Southeastern Conference, will also face fourth-seeded Delaware (35-23), of the America East Conference, in the first round of the double elimination tournament, which begins Friday, May 28. Arkansas and Delaware will play at 8:00 PM EST on Friday. The two losers will play at 12:00 PM EST on Saturday. The two winners will then play on Saturday at 4:30 PM EST.

The Tigers and Bears have met twice, both times in 1993 in the Best of the West Tournament in Fresno, CA. Clemson won both games by scores of 8-7 and 5-4. Arkansas and Clemson have also met twice, with both meetings coming in 1987 in the NCAA South Regional in Huntsville, AL. The Razorbacks won both games by scores of 6-5 and 4-2. Clemson and Delaware have never met.

Clemson, who has played 26 of 61 games against 1999 NCAA Tournament teams, will make its 13th consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, the fourth longest streak in the country. Only Miami (FL) (27), Florida State (22), Oklahoma State (19), and Wichita State (13) have a streak as long or longer than Clemson’s.

Arkansas, who features college baseball’s premier stadium (Baum Stadium – capacity of 3,300) according to Baseball America, has “astroturf” on the entire field. Ironically, the last time the Tigers traveled to a regional (Texas Tech – 1997), the infield only was “astroturf”. Southwest Missouri State also played in the Central Regional in Lubbock in ’97, but did not face the Tigers in the tournament.