The 2024 NCAA baseball tournament is here, and the Arizona Wildcats will host the Grand Canyon Antelopes at the Tucson Regional on Friday night.
Arizona (36-21) won the Pac-12 regular season title and the conference tournament, taking down USC in walk-off fashion.
GCU (34-23) captured the WAC’s regular season championship but came up short in the tournament.
The two Arizona schools met three times during the regular season, twice in Tucson. The ‘Lopes took two of the games, including a 24-8 drubbing that was called after seven innings.
Wildcats graduate right-hander Clark Candiotti — son of former major leaguer and Arizona Diamondbacks analyst Tom Candiotti — gets the start against GCU sophomore left-hander Grant Richardson. They are both Valley products, as Candiotti (7-3, 3.11) attended high school at Chaparral while Richardson (4-1, 4.03) represents Horizon.
How to watch Arizona vs. GCU at the NCAA tournament
First pitch is at 6 p.m. MST from Hi Corbett Field, and the game will air on ESPN+. Play-by-play announcer Mike Ferrin and analyst Jensen Lewis will be on the call.
Who is in the Tucson Regional?
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1. Arizona Wildcats
2. Dallas Baptist Patriots
3. West Virginia Mountaineers
4. Grand Canyon Antelopes
Dallas Baptist faces West Virginia on Friday at noon MST.
DBU (44-13) won the Conference USA Tournament and is one of five programs that made its 10th straight regional.
WVU (33-22) has highly regarded draft prospect infielder JJ Wetherholt, who is No. 7 on MLB Pipeline’s big board.
What is the NCAA baseball tournament regional format?
NCAA regionals are double elimination.
The winners of the first two games match up on Saturday at 7 p.m. MST. The losers play each other in the elimination bracket Saturday at 1 p.m. MST.
There are two games on Sunday, starting with the 1-1 teams facing off in an elimination game at noon. The 2-0 squad will take on the winner at 6 p.m. MST.
The Tucson Regional could end right there or extend to Monday for a win-or-go-home.
Sixteen regional-winning teams head to the best-of-three super regionals.
The 2024 Men’s College World Series starts June 14 in Omaha.