Baseball Begins Play at NCAA Regional on Friday

The Central Connecticut baseball team will face sixth-seeded TCU in their opening game of the NCAA Regional on Friday night in Fort Worth, TX. First pitch is slated for 9:00 p.m. and the game will be carried live on ESPN3. 

Mike Couzens (play-by-play) and Greg Swindell (analyst) will call the action.

NCAA REGIONAL TOURNAMENT NOTES

The Blue Devils, who are 36-20 on the season, earned an automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament by virtue of winning the Northeast Conference Tournament. CCSU advanced to its fifth NCAA Tournament, and first since 2010, with a 6-3 win over Sacred Heart in Sunday's championshp. 

Head coach Charlie Hickey, the four-time NEC Coach of the Year, has won over 600 games in his career, including his 500th at Central with the victory in the NEC championship game. The Blue Devils boast eight players who earned All-Northeast Conference honors and had three more earn All-Tournament Team honors, including freshman TT Bowens who was named Tournament MVP.

The Horned Frogs are 42-16 overall and earned the No. 6 seed in the field. TCU has made 15 trips to the regionals, including hosting each of the past four season. The Horned Frogs had 10 players earn All-Big 12 recognition, including Big 12 Co-Player of the Year, Evan Skoug. Head coach Jim Schlossnagle is in his 14th season at TCU and is the school's all-time winningest coach with over 600 wins.

Virginia (42-14) is the second seed in the regional, while Dallas Baptist University (40-19) is seeded third. The Cavaliers and Patriots will open regional action at 4:00 p.m. on Friday afternoon.

The regional is a double-elimination format and will have all of the games carried on ESPN networks. The weekend's full schedule is as follows:
Friday:
Game 1 at 4 p.m. on ESPNU
Game 2 at 9 p.m. on ESPN3
Saturday:
Game 1 at 3 p.m. on ESPN3
Game 2 at 8 p.m. on ESPN3
Sunday:
Game 1 at 4 p.m. on ESPN3
Game 2 at 9 p.m. on ESPN3
Monday:
Game 1 at 7 p.m. on ESPN3

Follow @CCSUBlueDevils on Twitter and www.CCSUBlueDevils.com for updates throughout the weekend. Live in-game updates for Friday's action will be available by following @KizerBlueDevil on Twitter.