Jackets host NCAA regional tourney

The eighth nationally seeded Jackets (45-16) start their run to the College World Series today against the Stetson Hatters (38-22). This is their fifth straight season hosting a regional. It is also their 20th bid in 21 years.

The other potential opponents for the Jackets in the Atlanta Regional are Vanderbilt (36-22) and Michigan (42-19).

Despite the many injuries the Jackets have endured this season, they have been able to play well over the past several weeks.

This past weekend, Tech went 3-2 in the ACC tournament. Tech defeated the Miami Hurricanes twice and defeated the ACC regular season champion Clemson Tigers once before falling out of the tournament at the hands of those same Tigers after a 16-11 defeat in a doubleheader game.

The Jackets will likely be without the services of Danny Payne and Tim Gustafson for the entire Atlanta Regional.

Payne has been out since he crashed into Steven Blackwood on April 29 against Boston College. He will in all likelihood not return this season, but there is a chance he might be back if Tech advances.

Gustafson, who was a key member for Tech during last year's NCAA tournament run, might be back if Tech advances to the next round.

Tech's two hottest players going into the NCAA tournament are starting pitcher Blake Wood and first baseman Luke Murton.

In the ACC tournament, Wood threw 8.1 innings, while allowing only one earned run and striking out three.

Murton is four for his last nine at bats, with eight RBI's and three home runs. In game two of the doubleheader against Clemson last Saturday, Murton went 3 for 5 with a seven RBI's and three home runs, including a grand slam in the ninth.

Vanderbilt is the number two seed in the regional, and will most likely be Tech's toughest challenger in this regional. They finished sixth in the SEC standings, but were the runner up to Ole Miss in the SEC Tournament dropping that game 9-3.

The Commodores are led by sophomore starting pitcher David Price and freshman third baseman Pedro Alvarez.

Price is a top tier prospect of the future, and broke the Commodore record for strikeouts this year with 147. This is a record that had not been broken in over 35 years. Alvarez leads the Commodores with 19 home runs which is 4th best in the SEC.

The third seeded Michigan Wolverines are the Big Ten champions. While Michigan has largely been untested this season in the Big Ten, they are coming into this tournament winning 10 out of their last 12 games.

Michigan's team is led by its starting rotation of fifth year senior Paul Hammond, sophomore Chris Fetter and freshman Zach Putnam. None of these pitchers has an ERA above three. The Wolverines have connections with the Jackets baseball team. Fifth year senior starting pitcher Drew Taylor was once a student at Tech. As a freshman at Tech, Taylor 11 appearances during the season with a 7.71 ERA in 9.1 innings pitched.

The fourth seeded Stetson Hatters earned a bid to the NCAA tournament by playing their way into via the Atlantic Sun tournament. They were underdogs in their conference, but won the championship to get the automatic bid.

Stetson does have a history of playing the underdog role though. In 2003, the Hatters upset the Jackets 5-4 in their first round match-up of the NCAA Atlanta Regional.

"I think it is a plus that we have guys on this year's team who were in the same situation in 2003," said Stetson head coach Pete Dunn.

"Even the guys that weren't there understand that it's going to be the same opponent, the same ballpark, and the same environment where we got it done before. I don't want to downplay the abilities of Georgia Tech, it is certainly going to be a challenge, but I don't think it is going to be anything we are overwhelmed with."

The winner of this regional will go on to play the winner of the Lexington Regional. Since Tech is a national seed in the tournament, the Jackets would host the Super Regional of the tournament if they advance past this round.