May 25--Illinois, which won the Big Ten regular-season baseball championship, will have home-field advantage for the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The Illini (47-8-1) will host an NCAA regional for the first time in program history, and will face Ohio (36-19) at 7 p.m. Friday in the second of two games at Illinois Field.
In the opener, Notre Dame (36-21) will play Wright State (41-15) at noon.
The winner of the four-team, double-elimination regional, which could run through Monday, will qualify for one of the eight NCAA super regionals.
UCLA is the top seed in the 64-team NCAA tournament. The other six national seeds, in order, are Louisville, Florida, Miami, Illinois, TCU and Missouri State.
Illinois, which lost to Michigan 5-3 in the Big Ten tournament semifinals, will be making its 11 appearance in the NCAA tournament and third in the last five years.
