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Home sweet home: Miami’s Mark Light Field named host site for one of 16 NCAA regionals

Al Diaz/adiaz@miamiherald.com

No surprise, but it’s still nice to be home.

The NCAA on Sunday night named the University of Miami one of 16 host sites for the upcoming weekend’s opening-round regionals of the NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.

Earlier Sunday, the No. 11 Hurricanes (40-19) fell to No. 6 Clemson in the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship at Durham Bulls Athletic Field in North Carolina.

The Hurricanes, who won national championships in 1982, 1985, 1999 and 2001, still await news of the other three teams that will come to Coral Gables for their regional, as the NCAA only announced the host sites Sunday. The Canes will gather in their clubhouse at noon Monday for the NCAA’s unveiling of the 64 teams in the regionals, and where each team will play, along with their seedings.

UM does not expect to be named one of eight coveted national seeds, which ensures those teams host status for the second-round super regional if they win their regional. The Canes, whose RPI is 12 of 305 Division I baseball teams, could still host a super regional if the top-8 seed in their corresponding bracket loses in the first round.

“We’re getting ready for the NCAA tournament, that’s the bottom line,’’ UM coach Gino DiMare said after Sunday’s loss. “We find out who’s coming to play. We’re probably not going to be a national seed. ...If we won, I would have liked to seen what they did there because we certainly would have deserved it if we won the tournament. But that’s not the case.

“So, we’ll get ready like everybody else and find out who our opponents are and start scrambling, get scouting reports and take the day off tomorrow. Get our rest, get healthy, get our pitchers rest and get ready for Friday.’’

The eight teams that survive the super regionals that begin Friday, June 9, advance to the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska from June 16-26.

NCAA regional host programs:

Miami (40-19)

Auburn (34-21-1)

LSU (43-15)

Coastal Carolina (39-19)

South Carolina (39-19)

Clemson (43-17)

Virginia (45-12)

Wake Forest (47-10)

Alabama (40-19)

Indiana State (42-15)

Oklahoma State (41-17)

Stanford (38-16)

Vanderbilt (41-18)

Kentucky (36-18)

Florida (44-14)

Arkansas (41-16)