BALTIMORE — Two Maryland college baseball teams are heading to the NCAA tournament.
The Terps are staying home.
They are hosting a regional in the tournament for the first time and are the 15th overall seed in the nation.
Joining them in college park are UConn, Wake Forest, and Long Island University will join the Terps in college park.
Coppin State is joining the Terps in the tournament, though they’re traveling to Greenville, North Carolina for their matchups.
It’s the first time Coppin State is heading to the tourney in 27 years.
Their first matchup is against the 8th-seeded team in the tournament— the East Carolina Pirates.
Coastal Carolina and the University of Virginia will also be down there.
The regional is a double-elimination tournament, so the Eagles will also play one of those other schools as well.
Players said they are pumped to have a chance for a national title.
“Oh my gosh, it's awesome. I've been we as a team, we've been looking at it and just seeing Coppin State. And just knowing the history, we wanted to make a difference,” said outfielder Wellington Balsley. “And we're so glad that we can do this for our community, university. And we had a goal and we're just excited.”
Head coach Sherman Reed said this chance for the program is one that has been long in the making.
When he took the job in 2011, he said they didn't have enough players to field and bat at the same time at practice.
“We were grinding man and didn't know how we were going to survive,” said Reed. “But this is for all of those guys to kind of start setting those steps and a path towards where we are today. And we owe it to the original guys that were on those those teams where we were really hurting back then in the day.”
The Eagles are underdogs in the tournament, being one of only three teams with losing records making it in.
They'll take on the ECU Pirates on June 3.
