Beavers don't earn national seed.

Byline: From Register-Guard and news service reports

COLLEGE BASEBALL 

A resume that includes a Pac-10 Conference championship and two top-five national rankings wasn't enough to get Oregon State a national seed in the Division I college baseball tournament Monday.

Clemson was selected as the top seed for the 64-team tournament, which begins Friday at 16 regional sites around the country, including Corvallis, where the Beavers (39-14) will host a four-team event that also includes Kansas, Hawaii and Wright State.

The other national seeds, in order, are: Rice (50-10), Texas (40-19), Alabama (41-19), Cal State Fullerton (43-13), Nebraska (42-15), Georgia (41-19) and Georgia Tech (45-16).

That Oregon State - ranked No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball and No. 5 by Baseball America in the latest polls - wasn't one of the seeds took OSU coach Pat Casey by surprise.

"When you win a conference like the Pac-10, you should be a national seed," Casey said in a statement released Monday by Oregon State's sports information department. "I think there has to be a lot more credibility put into being conference champions in big conferences. ... I think that's the only thing that surprises me is that a conference as prestigious as the Pac-10, the champion wouldn't be a national seed."

The two-time defending Pac-10 champions are the No. 1 regional seed this weekend and will open the tournament at 5 p.m. Friday against No. 4 seed Wright State (32-25). Second-seeded Kansas (42-23) and third-seeded Hawaii (43-15) begin the day's play at 1 p.m.

For OSU closer Kevin Gunderson, the disappointment of not gaining a national seed is outweighed by the need to take care of business in order to make a return trip to the College World Series.

`You have to beat good teams to make it there, and I think that's the biggest thing,' Gunderson said in OSU's release. `We can't dwell on the fact that we didn't get a national seed and we probably wouldn't get a chance to host a Super Regional if we're fortunate enough to win the regionals.

"But it is what it is; there's no changing it by us bickering and complaining - it wouldn't do anything but hurt us in the long run because we wouldn't be focused on playing. We just have to go out and take care of our regional."

Oregon State was one of four Pac-10 teams to make the field and the only one to host a regional. The other Pac-10 entrants are Arizona State (36-19), Stanford (30-25) and UCLA (32-23).

The Southeastern Conference had eight teams receive berths, down from the record nine it had in each of the past two years. Joining Alabama and Georgia are Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

Miami is making its 34th straight tournament appearance to extend its NCAA record. LSU isn't in for the first time since 1988, and neither is national runner-up Florida, which battled numerous injuries and finished second to last in the SEC.

The winners of each regional will advance to the Super Regionals, played June 9-12. The eight winners of the Super Regionals will play in the College World Series, which starts June 16 in Omaha, Neb.

Note: Oregon State outfielder Cole Gillespie was named Pac-10 Conference player of the week Monday after batting .500 in the Beavers' weekend series against UCLA. He was 3-for-5 with a double, triple, homer and three RBIs in Friday's 9-2 win that clinched the Beavers' second consecutive conference title.