UCLA baseball to begin NCAA tournament at Lubbock Regional against North Carolina
UCLA baseball will start its road to the College World Series in the Lubbock Regional, hosted by No. 8 overall seed Texas Tech, beginning Friday. (Antonio Martinez/Daily Bruin)
By Olivia Simons
May 31, 2021 10:33 a.m.
The Bruins’ road to Omaha will go through Lubbock.
UCLA baseball (35-18, 18-12 Pac-12) discovered its postseason fate in the selection show on Monday morning. After hosting a regional in 2019, the Bruins will travel outside of Westwood for this year’s regional of the NCAA tournament, heading to Lubbock, Texas, as the No. 2 seed in the regional hosted by No. 8 overall seed Texas Tech.
The blue and gold will first face off against No. 3 seed North Carolina (27-25, 18-18 ACC) in the double-elimination bracket hosted by No. 1 seed Texas Tech (36-15, 14-10 Big 12). No. 4 seed Army (28-23, 13-10 Patriot League) rounds out the regional and will take on the hosts before the Bruins’ opening contest.
The Bruins’ two guaranteed games are the Friday night matchup with the Tar Heels and a Saturday game against either the Red Raiders or the Black Knights, depending on the outcomes of both Friday contests.
Should UCLA advance past Lubbock, it will take on the winner of the Stanford Regional, which features No. 9 overall seed Stanford (33-14, 17-10 Pac-12), No. 2 seed UC Irvine (40-16, 32-8 Big West), No. 3 seed Nevada (25-18, 22-9 Mountain West) and No. 4 seed North Dakota State (41-17, 20-11 Summit League).
UCLA is coming off a sweep of Arizona State in Phoenix last weekend, while North Carolina concluded its schedule with a pool-play win over North Carolina State in the ACC tournament.
The first game against the Tar Heels is set for Friday night in Lubbock.
