MORGANTOWN — West Virginia baseball was announced as the No. 16 seed and the final host of the NCAA regional on Monday afternoon, with the team watching on at the Goat Pub. This is the first time since 2019 that the NCAA Tournament baseball is coming to Morgantown.

“Mix in a hosting situation for the community in the state, there’s nothing better,” head coach Steve Sabins said. “The people of this state are passionate about our program. They’re passionate about WVU, and so to bring an event like this here is meaningful to me, and I’m just really proud of the staff and the players.”

Along with WVU’s seeding, the rest of the teams headed to Morgantown were also selected. Wake Forest is the No. 2 seed in the regional, Kentucky is No. 3, and the Mountaineers will open NCAA Tournament play against the lowest seed in Binghamton, who won the American East Conference, consisting of seven teams.

WVU will play Binghamton at 5 p.m. on ESPN+ on Friday, May 29, which takes place after Wake Forest and Kentucky go head-to-head at noon on ESPN2. From there, it’s a double-elimination tournament, ending possibly on Monday, June 1.

None of the teams, aside from WVU at No. 9, were ranked in last week’s Division I Baseball rankings. The Mountaineers are 17th in the RPI, Wake Forest is 20, Kentucky is 37 and Binghamton is 117.

WVU has actually faced off against Kentucky and Wake Forest in the fall as scrimmages, according to Sabins.

“We got to play them early in the fall,” Sabins said. “That’s when everyone is trying to figure out their pitching and their hitting. Who can do what a little bit… So our team is just familiar with those jerseys, and with those players, and with those coaches. We’ve seen those players, and I think that’s good for our team.”

While watching the selection show, there were some reactions when certain teams were announced. Most of the reactions were when teams projected to play in the Morgantown Regional were called.

But Gavin Kelly, who has been WVU’s top player this season, didn’t really care where the Mountaineers were ranked or who was in the regional.

“Once we get in between the lines, it’s us versus them, so let’s go,” Kelly said. “Doesn’t matter where we are or who we’re playing against.”

As the No. 16 seed, the winner of the Morgantown Regional will face the winner of who comes out of the Los Angeles Regional. That regional is hosted by the No. 1 overall seed, the UCLA Bruins, who won the Big Ten. The Bruins finished the year with a 51-6 record and haven’t lost a series all season.

The rest of the top seeds are as follows: No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Georgia, No 4 Auburn, No. 5 North Carolina, No. 6 Texas, No. 7 Alabama, No. 8 Florida. No. 9 Southern Mississippi, No. 10 Florida State, No. 11 Oregon, No. 12 Texas A&M, No. 13 Nebraska, No. 14 Mississippi State and No. 15 Kansas.

The Big 12 had two teams host a regional and has a total of six teams in the tournament, including Cincinnati, UCF, Arizona State and Oklahoma State. TCU missed the cut after a tough performance in the Big 12 Tournament. The SEC had the most schools in the tournament with 12. There are 16 teams in the conference. Behind them was the ACC, and then the Big 12.

“I would have really liked to see TCU in the field,” Sabins said. “They’re deserving. They have a lot of history. They have a great team. They were injured in the middle of the year, and then got healthier down the stretch. Being able to have half of our league make the postseason felt appropriate, and that didn’t happen this year. But we got two hosts in.”

WVU’s rival, Pitt, didn’t make the field. The Panthers were on the bubble and had a really strong run in the ACC Tournament, beating Wake Forest and Florida State in their path. Pitt crushed WVU this season in the only Backyard Brawl, 23-1.

“I honestly thought they were going to get in, with the tournament run that they had,” Kelly, who is from Pittsburgh, said. “I think it would have been really cool if they did get in and got sent here because we owe them one, to say the least.”

WVU has had recent postseason success, even without hosting since 2019. The Mountaineers made it to the Super Regionals in the past two seasons and recently lost to LSU, who went on to win the National Championship. WVU was in the Clemson Regional with Kentucky. WVU beat the Wildcats to win the regional, capping it off with a perfect 3-0 record.

The Mountaineers look to get back to the Super Regional, but will have to win the Morgantown Regional first. Sabins expects a big crowd.

“They’ll be great opponents,” Sabins said. “The atmosphere in Morgantown is really hard to beat. I know that the tickets will be extremely hard to come by. We will pack as many in that place as the fire marshal allows.”