By By KEVIN TRAVIS
Sports Editor
The 16 regional sites were announced Sunday afternoon. The pairings for the tournament will be announced at 12:30 p.m. Monday. The brackets will be revealed during a telecast on ESPN.
Action at Clark-LeClair Stadium will begin Friday with a pair of games.
Whitehead, who is hitting .380 on the season with a team-high 95 hits, said the Pirates welcome the homefield advantage. ECU (42-17) is 28-7 in games at Clark-LeClair Stadium this year.
This is the first time Clark-LeClair Stadium will be the site of a regional tournament. However, ECU has played host to regional tournaments on two other occasions, in 2001 at Fleming Stadium in Wilson and in 2004 at Grainger Stadium in Kinston.
This will be ECU’s 24th overall appearance in NCAA postseason play. The Pirates have qualified for the regionals in 10 of the last 11 seasons. This marks their third straight regional appearance.
ECU played in the Chapel Hill (NC) Regional in 2007 and the Conway (SC) Regional in 2008.
Whitehead, who played in the Conway Regional last year, is happy he’ll have the chance to play in front of family and friends.
Each regional field is comprised of four teams playing in a double-elimination format. Each regional will be held Friday through Monday.
Teams will be hoping to advance to the College World Series, which will begin June 13 at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Nebraska.
The other 15 regional sites, including host institutions, are as follows: Atlanta, Ga. (Georgia Tech); Austin, Texas (Texas); Baton Rouge, La. (LSU); Chapel Hill, N.C. (North Carolina); Clemson, S.C. (Clemson); Fort Worth, Texas (TCU); Fullerton, Calif. (Cal State Fullerton); Gainesville, Fla. (Florida); Houston, Texas (Rice); Irvine, Calif. (UC-Irvine); Louisville, Ky. (Louisville); Norman, Okla. (Oklahoma); Oxford, Miss. (Ole Miss); Tallahassee, Fla. (Florida State) and Tempe, Ariz. (Arizona State).
By virtue of being awarded a regional, all 16 host institutions have also been selected to the 64-team field. Cal State Fullerton, Clemson, East Carolina, Florida, Georgia Tech, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oklahoma and TCU have made the field as at-large selections.
TICKETS
Tickets for the Greenville Regional are on sale online at ECUPirates.com, or through the East Carolina Athletics Ticket Office for Pirate Club members and season ticket holders only. Beginning at 9 a.m. Wednesday, sales open for the general public. All-session ticket books are available for $60, while tickets for single games, priced at $10, will go on sale on Friday. Tickets can be purchased in person or over the phone by calling (800) DIAL-ECU or (252) 737-4500 during normal business hours from Monday through Thursday.