What happened when the NCAA East regional pairings were announced is anyone's guess.
The Southern Connecticut State baseball team was seeded fourth in the region and will open play against third-seeded Wilmington (Del.) on Thursday at Rindge, N.H. The game is tentatively slated for 7 p.m.
How the selection committee came up with a 4-seed for Southern is hard to believe. Southern has been ranked No. 1 in the East region virtually all season long. They are ranked eighth in the country but only half as high in their own region.
The Owls (38-6-1) are making their sixth appearance in the NCAA tournament and second straight. Southern had hoped to host the tournament at Yale Field but Adelphi earned the No. 1 seed in the East after winning the Northeast-10 Conference tournament on Sunday. Adelphi will face No. 6 Dowling in the first round.
No. 2 seed Franklin Pierce will serve as the host and will face No. 5 UMass-Lowell in the first round.
SCSU defeated UMass-Lowell at this weekend’s NE-10 Tournament, but lost to Adelphi and Franklin Pierce. Southern has the most wins and best winning percentage of any team in the region.
Adelphi could not host the regional becuase it does not have the proper facilities. Franklin Pierce relishes the chance to host the regional and went to the DII World Series last year.