BREAKING: Texas Tech a 9 seed nationally in the NCAA Tournament

After a 39-17 season that cultimated in a third place conference finish, the Texas Tech Red Raiders are headed back to the NCAA Tournament.

The Red Raiders will be hosting a regional for the third season in a row. After losing star pitcher Steven Gingery to season-ending injury at the beginning of the year, Tech was able to consistently stay in the top 15 of rankings throughout the season.

As a #9 national seed, Tech barely missed out on automatically hosting a super regional. If the Red Raiders win this regional, they will be matched up with the winner of the Athens regional and will only host the super regional if Georgia fails to advance.

Tech has played both Louisville and New Mexico State previously this season.

Louisville, the two seed, finished fifth in the ACC this season, but are beneficiaries of a decent RPI and playing in a strong conference. The Red Raiders split two games against the Cardinals back in March.

New Mexico State, the four seed, finished second in the WAC, yet won the conference tournament giving them an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament. In April, the Aggies played the Red Raiders in Midland. Tech won that matchup narrowly, 2-1.

Kent State, the three seed, is the only team in the regional to which Tech won’t have any familiarity with. The Golden Flashes may be the most dangerous team in the entire regional. Kent State won both the MAC regular season and tournament championships fairly convincingly.

Rip Griffin Park will be buzzing all weekend. The Red Raiders begin their quest for Omaha this Friday against New Mexico State at 1 p.m.