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Pacers get third seed in South Atlantic Regional
5/12/2008 11:44 PM

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By CAM HUFFMAN

Sports Editor

For the fourth year in a row, USC Aiken's baseball team's postseason plans will include a trip to the NCAA regional. The Pacers found out Monday morning that they were the No. 3 seed in the South Atlantic Regional, which will take place in Mount Olive, N.C., on the home field of No. 1 seed Mount Olive.

"It is very exciting," said USCA head coach Kenny Thomas. "There aren't a lot of teams out there that can say they have been to the NCAA regional four years in a row. We feel good about making it to the regional. We know it is going to be tough, but we are excited about the challenge."

USCA will begin tournament play at 11 a.m. on Thursday against a familiar foe, No. 4 seed North Georgia, which will be making its NCAA Tournament debut after winning the Peach Belt Conference this weekend in Aiken. The Saints have won 23 of their last 26 games and are one of the hottest teams in Division II, but Thomas explained that any matchup is a difficult one at this point in the season.

"I don't think it really matters who you are playing," said Thomas. "When you get to the regional, you have to beat the better teams to get out of there anyhow. You can say they are hot and are playing well, and maybe that is true. But last year Columbus State was two-and-out in the conference tournament and went on to the World Series. So hot is just what you make it. Hot is why you drink hot coffee."

North Georgia and USCA are two of the three PBC teams in the South Atlantic Region, the other being No. 2 seed Columbus State, the conference's regular season champion. The three teams are certainly familiar with each other, but USCA has not seen North Georgia since taking two out of three games in a weekend series Feb. 23-24 in Dahlonega, Ga. Columbus State came to Aiken on March 29-30 and won a Saturday doubleheader before the Pacers took game three on Sunday to avoid being swept.

"We didn't see (North Georgia) or Columbus State during the conference tournament," said Thomas, downplaying the familiarity. "We did play them a three-game series each during the season, but I don't think that really matters. It was a while back when we played them, and we just have to go play the game. We can't worry about our opponent. We have to worry about that little white thing rolling around out there on the diamond."

The other three teams in the South Atlantic Regional are No. 1 Mount Olive, No. 5 Belmont Abbey and No. 6 Erskine. Mount Olive (49-5) is the top-ranked team in all of Division II, while Belmont Abbey (40-20) will be making its first regional appearance since 2001 after finishing as the Conference Carolinas Tournament runners-up. Erskine (44-11) is making its first-ever tournament appearance, but is ranked No. 19 in the national polls.

"We didn't play any of those three teams this year, so I don't know a whole lot about them," said Thomas of the three Conference Carolinas teams in the regional. "I know Belmont Abbey was in here scouting the conference tournament all weekend, so they know more about us that we know about them.

"But I am sure they are good ballclubs. Mount Olive has been a top-ranked club all year, so I am sure they are an excellent team. But again we say all the time that it is not how you are playing but who you are playing. We just have to play one game at a time and not worry about tomorrow."

USCA will enter the tournament with a 44-15 overall record but just a 2-4 mark in its last six games. The Pacers lost two of three to UNC Pembroke at home to end the regular season, missing out on a PBC title by just one game. The Pacers then had to wait 12 days before taking the field again in the opening round of the conference tournament, a 12-8 loss to Georgia College & State University.

Thomas' club stayed alive by beating Armstrong Atlantic State 10-3 on Friday, but its tournament run came to an end Saturday when it fell 9-6 to Francis Marion.

"I think the layoff was definitely a problem for us, maybe more this year than any other," said Thomas, whose teams often have to fight through a long layoff at the end of the regular season in order to concentrate on final exams. "It hurt us, but the good thing is that we played three games (in the PBC tournament). We didn't want to go two-and-out and only get two games in. We really needed to play three games, and we got that in. Hopefully that got the rust off of us."

The rest of Thursday's schedule will include No. 2 Columbus State vs. No. 5 Belmont Abbey at 3 p.m. and No. 1 Mount Olive vs. No. 6 Erskine at 7 p.m. The double-elimination tournament will run through Sunday.

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