Albany State baseball heading to Florida Southern for regional

ALBANY — Albany State’s baseball team will head to Lakeland, Florida, for its NCAA Division II baseball regional.

Florida Southern will host the seven-team South Regional beginning Thursday. Albany State, the seventh seed, will open against No. 2 seed Tampa.

Tampa won the regular-season Sunshine State Conference title, but Florida Southern claimed two of three from Tampa in a season-ending series over the weekend. The tournament selection committee then awarded the South Regional to Florida Southern.

“My initial thought was, that’s one extremely tough region,” ASU head coach Scot Hemmings said after the bracket was revealed late Sunday night. “Some of the best teams in the country will be there.”

Making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance, Albany State (28-16) has won nine straight and 12 of its past 13 games, including four straight in the SIAC Tournament.

The Golden Rams scored at least eight runs in each of the 12 victories, averaging 11.2 runs per game during that stretch.

“Our goal was to compete at the regional level,” Hemmings said. “We took care of things by winning the conference, and now we have that opportunity.”

The Albany State-Tampa game is paired with the contest between third-seeded Delta State and sixth-seeded Mississippi College in the regional bracket. Nova Southeastern is the No. 4 seed, while Montevallo is seeded fifth.

The tournament is double-elimination competition. Albany State is making its fifth NCAA Tournament appearance.

In out-of-conference play, Albany State went 9-12. Albany State took two of three from Tampa early in the season in a series played in Albany.

The team that emerges from the South Region Tournament heads to the national championship tournament, scheduled for May 26-June 2 in Cary, North Carolina.