MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia is the No. 15 overall national seed in the 2019 NCAA baseball tournament.
The Mountaineers will host Texas A&M, Duke and Fordham in the Morgantown Regional. West Virginia will play Fordham at Monongalia County Ballpark in the first round of the double-elimination regional at 8 p.m. on Friday. The Aggies and Blue Devils get the tournament started at 4 p.m.
Left-hander Nick Snyder (8-1, 2.71 ERA) will start against the Rams as West Virginia saves ace Alek Manoah (9-3, 1.85) for Saturday’s game. Most teams slot their aces for the second game of the tournament since it is either an elimination game or a chance to clinch a spot in the regional final.
The losers will meet in an elimination early on Saturday, while both first-round winners play later in the day with the winner of that game advancing to the regional final.
West Virginia is hosting NCAA postseason games for the first time since 1955.
The winner of the regional will be paired with the winner of the Nashville Regional in the best-of-3 super regional. No. 2 national seed Vanderbilt is the host of that regional.
Morgantown Regional
Game 1: Duke (31-25) vs. Texas A&M (37-21-1), 4 p.m. Friday, ESPN2
Game 2: No. 15 overall seed West Virginia (37-20) vs. Fordham (38-22), 8 p.m. Friday, ESPN3
Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 2 p.m., Saturday
Game 4: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 7 p.m., Saturday
Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, noon, Sunday
Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5, 6 p.m., Sunday
Game 7 (if necessary): Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, 4 p.m., Monday
Nashville Regional
Game 1: McNeese (35-24) vs. Indiana State (41-16), 1 p.m. Friday, ESPN3
Game 2: No. 2 overall seed Vanderbilt (49-10) vs. Ohio State (35-25), 7 p.m. Friday, ESPN2
Game 3: Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, noon, Saturday
Game 4: Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 6 p.m., Saturday
Game 5: Winner of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 2 p.m., Sunday
Game 6: Winner of Game 4 vs. Winner of Game 5, 8 p.m., Sunday
Game 7 (if necessary): Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 6, 6 p.m., Monday