May 25, 1999

OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Miami was made the top-seeded team Monday and the Southeastern and Big 12 conferences each got six teams into the postseason as the NCAA expanded the playoff field leading to the College World Series to 64 teams.

Miami (41-13), which will play Bethune-Cookman in the first round of the double-elimination tournament, extended its record for postseason appearances to 27 seasons.

Nebraska, which got the Big 12's automatic bid Sunday by beating Baylor after upset conference tournament wins over Oklahoma State, Oklahoma and Texas A&M, is in the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1985.

The Cornhuskers (41-16) are on a nine-game winning streak.

No one has an easy ride to Omaha and the College World Series, Division I Baseball Committee Chairman Dick Rockwell said.

"It's pick your poison," Rockwell said of the committee's work over the weekend to pick the field. "I guess we tried to get parity in the brackets. We tried not to sacrifice the integrity of the brackets geographically."

Rockwell said he considered the bracket at Wichita State that includes the Shockers, Baylor, Arizona and Minnesota to be the toughest one. He also cited the bracket at Arkansas that includes Clemson, Mississippi and Texas A&M.

Controversial decisions by the committee included taking UCLA and its 30-29 record, North Carolina State over fellow ACC school Georgia Tech, and leaving out Missouri and Coastal Carolina.

"We spent more time with Coastal Carolina today than any school in my four years of being on the committee," Rockwell said. "Coastal Carolina would have been the 65th team."

The committee put the most weight in its decision-making on the strength of non-conference schedules and play in conference tournaments, Rockwell said.

Texas A&M, ranked second in the latest Baseball America poll, was seeded seventh.

Rice, top-ranked in the Baseball America poll, was seeded eighth. The Owls (52-11) beat TCU for their third straight WAC title.

The other seeded teams were No. 2 Florida State (48-12), No. 3 Cal State-Fullerton (44-11), No. 4 Baylor (46-12), No. 5 Alabama (46-14) and No. 6 Stanford (43-13).

The home teams for the regionals are Miami, Florida State, Wake Forest, Ohio State, Notre Dame, Alabama, Auburn, LSU, Arkansas, Houston, Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Wichita State, Southern Cal and Stanford.

"I just think it's going to generate so much more interest," Rockwell said of expanding from 48 teams to 64. "The coaches like it. ... College baseball over the last three or four years has gotten bigger and better."

Regional play begins Friday. Survivors advance to a best-of-3 super regionals beginning June 4 at campus sites to be announced. The final eight teams go to the World Series, which begins June 11.

Defending champion Southern California (33-23), which beat Arizona 21-14 last year in the championship game, plays Virginia Commonwealth in the first round.

Alabama won the Southeastern Conference automatic bid with a 9-3 victory over Arkansas on Sunday. Arkansas was given an at-large bid, along with Auburn, LSU, Mississippi and Mississippi State.

Joining Nebraska from the Big 12 were Baylor, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M and Texas Tech.

The expanded format allowed 14 of 29 conferences that play baseball to get multiple berths in the postseason, compared with nine leagues last year.

The Atlantic Coast Conference got five teams into the tournament and the Pac-10 had four.

Florida State is in the tournament for the 22nd straight year, while Oklahoma State will make its 19th consecutive appearance, Clemson and Missouri Valley Conference champion Wichita State their 13th straight, LSU its 11th and Long Beach State its ninth.

By CRAIG HORST
AP Sports Writer