Baseball Awarded No. 2 Seed in Ann Arbor

The NCAA Selection Committee released the 2008 NCAA Division I Men's Baseball Tournament bracket on ESPN at 12:30. The No. 18-ranked Wolverines didn't have to wait long to find out who they would be playing and whether or not they were rewarded for sweeping both the Big 10 regular season and tournament titles with a No. 1 regional seed.

The No. 18-ranked Michigan baseball team will be the No. 2 seed in the Ann Arbor Regional of the 2008 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament the team learned on the ESPN selection show at 12:30 this afternoon.

The No. 2 seed Wolverines (45-12) will meet the No. 3 seed Kentucky Wildcats (42-17) on Friday at a time to be determined later.

The 64-team tournament is divided into 16 regionals in the first round. In each regional, four teams compete in a double-elimination tournament for the right to advance to the Sweet 16 Super-Regional round. Arizona and Eastern Michigan complete the Ann Arbor Regional as the No. 1 and No. 4 seeds.

Michigan enters the NCAA Tournament ranked No. 16 in the nation according to Baseball America. Arizona is the No. 23-ranked team and Kentucky is ranked No. 24 in the same poll.

According to Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the Wolverines enter the tournament ranked No. 13 while Arizona comes in at No. 23 and Kentucky at No. 29.

Arizona earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament with a record of 38-17 in the PAC-10. Highlighting the Wildcats regular season was a series victory against top-five overall seed Arizona State during conference play.

Michigan enters the tournament after sweeping both the regular season and Big 10 tournament titles. The Wolverines are ranked in both national polls, and are making their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament.

Kentucky finished with a record of 42-17, including a .500 record of 15-15 in SEC competition. The SEC is represented by nine teams in the 2008 NCAA Tournament.

Eastern Michigan University earned the automatic tournament bid from the Mid-American Conference by winning the MAC Tournament title.

The regional will be played at Michigan's Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor. Tickets will be available to the public starting at 8 a.m. Wednesday. Prices range from $3-10 for individual day tickets or $18-56 for all-session passes.