Alabama to host first NCAA baseball regional since 2006

Alabama to host first NCAA baseball regional since 2006

Alabama’s unprecedented baseball season has a new twist.

The Crimson Tide was one of 16 NCAA regional hosts announced Sunday evening ahead of Monday’s release of the full bracket. This will be the first time Alabama’s hosted a regional since 2006 and only the third trip to the NCAA tournament in the past 10 years.

The regional will run from Friday through Monday (June 2-5) at Sewell-Thomas Stadium. Tickets can be purchased on the Alabama athletics website.

The SEC landed eight of the 16 regional hosts. Auburn, LSU, South Carolina, Arkansas, Florida, Vanderbilt and Kentucky will also host regionals.

The full NCAA bracket will be released at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2.

The Crimson Tide (40-19) finished the regular season with a No. 11 ranking in the RPI. It won a pair of games in the SEC tournament including the opener over RPI No. 2 Kentucky. It lost to No. 4 Florida and No. 7 Vanderbilt — the eventual tournament titlist — before waiting on the NCAA’s seeding verdict.

It caps a tumultuous month of May that began with the firing of coach Brad Bohannon amid an investigation into questionable gambling activity.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.