Five More Big 12 Teams in 2002 NCAA Regionals Field: 30 From Conference Since 1997

Nebraska and Texas both used the "if necessary" game route to score clutch wins on June 9 and to advance to the 2002 NCAA World Series by downing Richmond of the Atlantic 10 Conference 11-6 and Houston of Conference USA 5-2, respectively.

Pairings for the eight teams in the 2002 CWS at Omaha will be announced after the completion of the Florida State-Notre Dame Super Regional in Tallahassee, Fla., Monday.

If there is one aspect about Big 12 teams and NCAA baseball tournaments, it is consistency. In the first six years of Big 12 existence, there have been 30 NCAA Regionals' invitees. Oklahoma State and Texas A&M (both in 1999), Texas (2000), and Nebraska (2001) all have advanced to the NCAA World Series. In fact, in 1997 the league received four bids, 1999 had a record six NCAA entries from the Big 12, and in 1998, 2000-02 there have been five invitees in each of the seasons. In both 2001 and '02 the Big 12 had the second-highest number of invitees behind the Southeastern Conference (eight and seven teams, respectively) while both Nebraska and Texas drew hosts' roles in '02 for both NCAA Regionals and Super Regionals.

NU, which needs three wins to post an unprecedented third consecutive 50-win season under 2001 BASEBALL AMERICA Coach of the Year Dave Van Horn, returns to the friendly confines of Rosenblatt Stadium-some 50 miles from the university's campus in Omaha. The Huskers also have a healthy two-time All-America pitcher Shane Komine (10-0, 108 strikeouts in 91 1/3 innings pitched) after some earlier arm problems back at full tilt. All-America catcher Jed Morris (.380-21 HR-84 RBI) of the Huskers provides plenty of punch while OF Jeff Leise (.378-12 HR-51 RBI) and OF-DH Justin Seely (.327-7 HR-36 RBI, provided a key grand slam in June 9 victory over Richmond) are other key sluggers.

Texas, which battled through the NCAA Austin Regional, Austin Super Regional and Phillips 66 Big 12 postseason tournament at The Ballpark in Arlington before a national-record 150,196 fans for 14 contests with a 10-2 record (winning the Big 12 tourney and NCAA Super Regional after falling in its first contest in each), sports one of the nation's top pitching staffs from top to bottom. The Longhorns entered the Super Regionals with a NCAA-leading 2.80 earned run average and rely on the likes of pitchers Justin Simmons (14-1), Alan Bomer (10-3, transfer from Iowa State's program prior to 2002), Brad Halsey (7-2), and freshman relief ace Huston Street (4-1, 10 saves).

Baylor (36-26), Oklahoma (35-27) and Texas Tech (42-20) also advanced from the Big ranks to regionals in 2002, and Baylor battled Texas in the NCAA Austin Regional title contest. Oklahoma State (37-21) and Texas A&M (35-24) were near-misses in final, at-large NCAA selections.

Quick Notes: In 2001 and 2002 the Big 12 had the second-highest number of bids with five in the 64-team NCAA Regionals. Texas nailed down the 2002 automatic bid as winner of the league's Phillips 66 postseason tourney as well as '02 regular-season champ while Baylor, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas Tech gained at-large bids. For the second time since 1999 (Oklahoma State and Texas A&M), the Big 12 advanced two teams to the NCAA World Series in 2002. Nebraska became the first member of the Big 12 Conference to make back-to-back appearances in the nearby CWS since Oklahoma in 1994 and '95. Teams from the Big 12 opened NCAA play in 2001 with 10 wins in their first 12 tournament contests, and the conference went 4-2 in the 2002 NCAA Super Regionals hosted by Nebraska and Texas to run the '02 composite Big 12 NCAA mark to 13-8 (619) in pre-CWS competition. All five entries in the 2001 playoffs won at least two games in Regional first rounds, and Nebraska and Texas Tech each notched three triumphs. Nebraska added two wins against Rice in the 2001 NCAA Lincoln Super Regional to earn its first-ever trip to the NCAA World Series and became the ninth Big 12 team to earn a trip to the baseball Final Eight before downing Richmond twice in three 2022 Super Regional contests go advance again. Big 12 Conference teams competed in 1,090 NCAA regional or World Series games since the NCAA brought postseason baseball play under its umbrella in 1954 through the 2002 NCAA Super Regionals reached the 600-win mark after Nebraska downed Wichita State 8-1 to win the 2000 NCAA Minnesota Regional. Conference teams enter the 2002 NCAA World Series at 630-460 (.578 winning percentage) as Big 12 teams have made 74 appearances in 48 NCAA World Series (and NCAA-high 29 by Texas) from 1947-02. Ten schools from the league have advanced as far as NCAA Regional play. Big 12 teams have competed in 86 percent of all NCAA World Series and have won eight baseball national championships-most recently Oklahoma in 1994. There also have been eight Big 12 teams competing in the first four years of NCAA Super Regional contests from 1999-02. The conference just missed another squad in the 1999 CWS as Oklahoma State and Baylor were paired in Waco's NCAA Super Regional. In 2000 Nebraska also was within one victory at Stanford of going to the CWS before falling in the NCAA Super Regional. NU's 2001 squad equaled the 2000 edition with a school-record-tying 50th seasonal win before making its first-ever trek to the World Series and has the opportunity to eclipse that co-mark under 2001 BASEBALL AMERICA National Coach of the Year Dave Van Horn. In all, 21 Big 12 teams qualified for 1999-02 regionals while four made it to the World Series. The 1999 Baylor-OSU matchups were the first by current members of the Big 12 in NCAA play since 1995 when Oklahoma defeated Texas 13-9 in the NCAA Midwest II Regional at All Sports Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla., and Baylor and Texas have were paired in the 2002 NCAA Austin Regional. Intraconference regionalization became more common in all NCAA Regionals after the events of 9/11/01.

Big 12 Schools NCAA World Series Appearances (Chronologically): 1949-Texas; 1950-Texas; 1951-Oklahoma, Texas A&M; 1952-Texas; 1953-Texas; 1954-Missouri, Oklahoma State; 1955-Oklahoma State; 1957-Iowa State, Texas; 1958-Missouri; 1959-Oklahoma State; 1960-Oklahoma State; 1961-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1962-Missouri, Texas; 1963-Missouri, Texas; 1964-Missouri, Texas A&M; 1965-Texas; 1966-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1967-Oklahoma State; 1968-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1969-Texas; 1970-Iowa State, Texas; 1972-Oklahoma, Texas; 1973-Oklahoma, Texas; 1974-Oklahoma, Texas; 1975-Oklahoma, Texas; 1976-Oklahoma; 1977-Baylor; 1978-Baylor; 1979-Texas; 1981-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1982-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1983-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1984-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1985-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1986-Oklahoma State; 1987-Oklahoma State, Texas; 1989-Texas; 1990-Oklahoma State; 1992-Oklahoma, Texas; 1993-Kansas, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M; 1994-Oklahoma; 1995-Oklahoma; 1996-Oklahoma State; 1999-Oklahoma State, Texas A&M; 2000-Texas; 2001-Nebraska; 2002--Nebraska, Texas.