LAKE ELSINORE: Fans flock to NCAA baseball regional game – Press-Enterprise

LAKE ELSINORE: Fans flock to NCAA baseball regional game

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NCAA Regional at The Diamond

Sunday’s schedule:

• 3 p.m.: USC vs. loser of Virginia-San Diego State game

• 7 p.m.: winner of Virginia-San Diego State game vs. winner of 3 p.m. game

Tickets: Reserved $10, box $15, preferred box $20

Capacity: Approximately 8,000 with 6,066 fixed seats

Address: 500 Diamond Drive, Lake Elsinore

As Tod and Colleen Severson were unloading their SUV in the parking lot of The Diamond in Lake Elsinore after a four-hour trip from Santa Barbara on Saturday, May 30, they had two pressing questions.

“What’s the deal with the traffic?” asked Tod.

“Where’s everyone going?” said Colleen.

Welcome to the Inland Empire, Gaucho fans.

When the UC Santa Barbara baseball team played itself into a position to host an NCAA Regional with a 40-win regular season, there was one problem. Its baseball field did not have lights and couldn’t meet the criteria to host the four-team, double-elimination regional – the first step on the road to the College World Series.

Eventually the school’s athletic officials settled on hosting the tournament at The Diamond, the home of the Class-A Lake Elsinore Storm, which is a good 170 miles from campus.

USC, San Diego State and Virginia filled out the four-team field which opened play on Friday.

UC Santa Barbara ended a 12-year NCAA tournament drought two years ago. This year’s team earned the right to host a regional for the first time in the 69-year history of the NCAA tournament.

“We’re pretty excited about the whole deal,” said Tod Severson, 48, who serves as the baseball team chaplain. “The bummer part is – could we just have it in our own backyard?”

Andy Graham, 30, also made the trip from Santa Barbara. A former Gaucho baseball player, he actually pitched at The Diamond when he played for Modesto in the California League in 2008.

Graham, who retired from professional baseball in 2011 and now works for the university, made the trip with his parents and a handful of former teammates.

They were part of the crowd of 3,236 that showed up Friday night for UC Santa Barbara’s opening game against San Diego State, a 4-3 loss that put them in Saturday’s 3 p.m. elmination game against USC, which lost to Virginia in the first game on Friday.

“I think this is an exciting thing for the program,” said Graham. “I think it’ll be a nice momentum boost. People will want to get behind it and realize that our team is this good – but the facilities are still lacking – so imagine how good they could be if we had the facilities. If we had lights we could host a regional like this at our home stadium.

“That being said, this had been a great venue. It’s a beautiful ballpark and we’re happy to travel down and support the team. And everybody that works here with the Storm has been great so far.”

The Storm Store was rather quiet about 30 minutes before first pitch. While just outside the store on the stadium concourse a vendor selling NCAA gear did a brisk business.