Ohio Opens Lexington Regional Play Against Host Kentucky

Ohio Opens Lexington Regional Play Against Host Kentucky

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2017 NCAA Championship Lexington Regional Bracket 
2017 NCAA Championship Bracket 
Watch LIVE on ESPN3/WatchESPN

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The No. 4 regionally-seeded Ohio baseball team (31-26) opens 2017 NCAA Championship play by taking on No. 1 regionally-seeded Kentucky (39-20) on Friday (June 2) in the opening contest of the Lexington Regional at Cliff Hagan Stadium in Lexington, Ky. First pitch is scheduled for 12:04 p.m. ET.

Friday's contest will be nationally televised on ESPNU and broadcast live on ESPN3 and WatchESPN, with Anish Shroff and Jay Walker on the call. 

Ohio and Kentucky are joined in the double-elimination regional by No. 2 regionally-seeded Indiana (33-22) and No. 3 regionally-seeded North Carolina State (34-23), who will face off at 7 p.m. ET on Friday. The winners of Friday's games will square off on Saturday (June 3) at 12:04 p.m. ET. The losers of Friday's games will play an elimination game at 12:04 p.m. ET on Saturday. The survivor of the elimination game will play the loser of the winner's bracket game on Sunday (June 4) at 1:04 p.m. ET. The winner of that contest will play the winner of Saturday night's game at 7:04 p.m. ET on Sunday for the regional title. If necessary, a winner-take-all second regional title game will be played on Monday (June 5) at 7:04 p.m. ET. 

The Bobcats have never faced Kentucky, Indiana or North Carolina State in NCAA Championship play. 

The 2017 NCAA Championship consists of 16 four-team, double elimination Regionals, held at campus sites across the nation next weekend (June 2-5). The 16 regional host sites will be announced on Sunday at 8:30 p.m. ET. The 16 Regional champions advance to the NCAA Super Regionals, which will be held at campus sites the following weekend (June 9-12). The eight Super Regional champions punch tickets to Omaha, Neb., and the 2017 NCAA College World Series, which will be held June 17-27/28 at TD Ameritrade Park. The CWS is made up of two four-team, double-elimination brackets. The survivors of the brackets play a best-of-three games national championship series to decide the NCAA champion. 

Ohio will be making its 16th NCAA Championship appearance and second in the last three years. The Bobcats are 17-28 (.378) all-time in national postseason play. The Bobcats went 0-2 at the NCAA Championship Champaign Regional in Champaign, Ill., in 2015, falling to No. 6 national seed Illinois, 10-3, and Wright State, 8-3. Ohio earned its lone trip to the NCAA College World Series in 1970, going 2-2. The Bobcats swept through District 4 play, beating Minnesota, 6-4, then topping Southern Illinois twice by scores of 7-0 and 8-5 to punch a ticket to the CWS. At the College World Series, Ohio went 2-2, beating Southern California, 4-1, falling to Texas, 7-2 and defeating Iowa State, 9-6, before being eliminated by Florida State, 2-0.