Baseball named NCAA tournament’s No. 4 overall seed, will host regional this weekend

Until Division I-A football implements a playoff system, men’s and women’s basketball and baseball remain the NCAA’s three biggest tournaments.

Baylor teams have earned top-10 national seeds in all three sports this year.

In March, the Lady Bears grabbed the No. 1 overall seed en route to their second national title, while the men were the No. 9 national seed and reached the Elite Eight. Monday, Baylor baseball was named the No. 4 overall seed for this year’s NCAA Championship; the Bears will host a regional this weekend as one of the favorites to reach the 2012 College World Series.

[LINKS: Waco Regional Central from BaylorBears.com || Order tickets now || Coach Smith’s thoughts on the regional]

Big 12 Coach of the Year Steve Smith and Big 12 Player of the Year Josh Ludy led the Bears to the 2012 Big 12 title and a 44-14 regular season. Baylor matched the program record in being named the No. 4 overall seed for the third time, tying the 1999 and 2005 squads. The Bears will be hosting their fourth regional since opening Baylor Ballpark; the 2000 BU team lost in two games, but Baylor advanced to the Super Regional in 1999 and 2005, and on to the College World Series six years ago.

The 2012 Waco Regional includes Baylor, Dallas Baptist, UT-Arlington and Oral Roberts. All-session tickets give access to all six or seven games of the regional and are on sale now for as little as $15. A total of 200 complimentary tickets will be made available to Baylor students for each BU game; those will be available the day of the game when the gates open for Baylor games (typically 90 minutes prior to first pitch). Free live video of each game will be available at BaylorBears.com.

Sic ’em, Baylor baseball!