Central Arkansas could not have asked for a better regional to be sent to.
UCA took two of three games from Mississippi State during the regular season and those two will square off in the opening round of the Starkville regional this weekend.
The Bears (39-20) won the Southland Conference tournament after winning five games in three days last weekend. Mississippi State (43-17) received the bid as an at-large from the SEC, one of four schools from the conference to host.
Mississippi State took the series opener on March 8 4-2 but UCA won on Saturday and Sunday that weekend, 7-5 and 7-3.
“I’m really excited about the draw just for the fact that it’s close enough that we’re going to get a lot of fans,” UCA head coach Allen Gum said. “And we’ve been over there before. But I know it will be an even bigger atmosphere this time. We went over there for a weekend series, and it was big, but there’s no question this will be bigger.”
South Alabama (42-18) will face Mercer (43-16) in the opening round on the bottom half of the Starkville regional bracket.
The winner of the Starkvile regional will face the winner of the Charlottesville regional, where Virginia (47-10) is the host.
