Columbus State ready to enjoy advantage of being a top seed

Columbus State baseball coach Greg Appleton likes the new seven-team Southeast Regional.

The NCAA expanded the field for the Division II baseball tournament this year from 48 to 56 teams. There were eight regionals with six teams each in the past. Now, there are two with eight teams, two that still have six teams and four that have seven-team fields.

Obviously, with an odd number in the regional, the top seed gets what appears to be a huge advantage. That top seed for the Southeast is Columbus State. The fifth-ranked Cougars (42-12) earned that top seed after winning both the regular season and tournament titles for the Peach Belt Conference.

The Cougars get a first-round bye while the other six teams play on Thursday at Burger King Stadium. CSU will play for the first time at 3 p.m. Friday against the USC Aiken-Tusculum winner.

“With this being a 7-team tournament, getting that bye is a big bonus,” Appleton said. “You are losing the No. 1 pitchers from everyone else’s staff, so you’re throwing your No. 1 against their No. 2.

“After the first game, it’s all even after that. We wanted to host it here in Columbus, and we wanted to get that bye. That was a goal of ours.”

The Cougars dropped their first game in the PBC tournament, but then they rebounded to win three straight and the title.

“I think momentum gives you something called confidence, and that’s the biggest word this time of year,” Appleton said. “I think we have confidence going in by winning the PBC. We know the other six teams are good and capable of winning; in any regional, that’s how it’s going to be. I think we’re confident and comfortable. We’re playing at home, something we’ve done well all year. Our record at home speaks for itself. We know we’ve played good competition here.”

CSU took Monday off after arriving back from the PBC tournament late on Sunday. Rain kept the Cougars off the field Tuesday.

“We’ve got a few days off to rest from the (PBC) tournament, and now we have time to prepare,” Appleton said. “That’s a good thing. We even have the off day the first day of the tournament, so we get to watch everyone else before we get to play. We’ll see how it works out.

“We’re itching to get out there and play again. Baseball’s a sport where you like to play a lot. The tournament was kind of a grind, so it’s good to have a few days off.”

Appleton said he wants his team to focus on doing the same things it has done all season.

“I think the biggest thing is that we need to come in and play the way we’re capable, do the things we’ve done all year long and not try to get out of what we do that helps us win,” he said. “Hopefully, our offense will get it going and score some runs.

“If you can come in and score a lot of runs and put pressure on teams, that takes the pressure off your pitching and you don’t have to win a 2-1 or a 3-2 type game.

Scoring some runs is probably the biggest key for us. Ragsdale Field is an offensive ballpark; not just for us, it will be for everybody. Hopefully, we’ll come in and put some runs up and outscore people when we need to.”

Notes: The winner of the regional advances to the College World Series in Cary, N.C. That starts on May 28. … This is CSU’s 25th trip to the NCAA tournament. The last time the Cougars won a regional was in 2007. They won the national championship in 2002. … CSU wanted to move its first game to 7 p.m. Friday, but the move was not allowed by the NCAA. … Daily tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for children 3-18. Children 2 and under will be admitted free.

Dana Barker contributed to this report.

This story was originally published May 17, 2016 at 4:31 PM with the headline "Columbus State ready to enjoy advantage of being a top seed."