MU's NCAA Regional Destination: Tucson, AZ

By virtue of their victory in the Big 12 Championship game, the Tigers earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Baseball Tournament.  But considering their RPI, MU was bound to be shuffled down near the bottom of the 64-team deck and sent somewhere far beyond the Midwest.

But it did not turn out as bad as it might have.  The Tournament bracket and seedings were announced on ESPNU this morning, and Mizzou is headed to Tucson, AZ.  The seedings:

#1 Arizona (38-17; 14th RPI)
#2 New Mexico State (35-22, 34th RPI)
#3 Louisville (39-20, 42nd RPI)
#4 Missouri (32-26, 74th RPI)

Mizzou will play Arizona on the first round.  Considering there are 16 Regionals and Missouri is being matched up with the 14th-ranked team (in RPI), MU could have done a lot worse.

And Arizona is a familiar place for the Tigers, who have played there many times.  There is a sizeable number of Mizzou alums and Mizzou Baseball fans in Arizona.

Louisville is an interesting match-up for Mizzou. The Tigers played Louisville in the 2007 Regional at CoMo.

If Mizzou should win their Regional, the Super Regional match up would be against the winner in the Chapel Hill Regional

#1 North Carolina (44-14)
#2 East Carolina (35-22-1)
#3 St. John’s (37-21)
#4 Cornell (31-15-1)

Missouri's first game will Friday night at 10:00 PM CT, broadcast on ESPNU


Watch the Mizzou baseball team react as they are seeded 4th in the Tucson Regional (VIDEO)