Seahawks land in Louisiana; ready to face Tulane in NCAA Baseball Tournament

WILMINGTON, NC (UNCW) —  As the Seahawks prepare to face Lehigh, LSU and Tulane in the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship this weekend, UNCWSports.com takes a look at the three schools and their baseball programs.

More info here on NCAA Baton Rouge Regional

A Look at Lehigh
Nickname: Mountain Hawks
Conference: Patriot League
Location | Enrollment: Bethlehem, Pa. | 7,411
How They Reached NCAA Tournament: Patriot League Champion
NCAA Tournament Appearances (inc. 2015): 2 (Last: 2006)
Notable Alumni: Jesse W. Reno, 1883 (inventor of the elevator), Bobby Weaver, ’83 (Olympic gold medal-winning wrestler), Terry Hart, ’68 (astronaut on space shuttle Challenger)
Notes of Interest:
• Lehigh University was founded in 1865 by Asa Packer, an industrial pioneer, entrepreneur and philanthropist.
• Lehigh became the first university in the country to create an independent digital satellite network to broadcast a class nationwide in 1992.
• The Lehigh men’s basketball team claimed its first-ever NCAA Tournament victory on Mar. 16, 2012 by upsetting second-seeded Duke, 75-70.
• The Lehigh football team has been one of the top teams in the Patriot League, winning 10 championships while making nine appearances in the NCAA Division I Playoffs.

A Look at LSU
Nickname: Tigers
Conference: Southeastern Conference
Location | Enrollment: Baton Rouge, La. | 30,451
How They Reached NCAA Tournament: At-Large Bid
NCAA Tournament Appearances (inc. 2015): 28 (Last: 2014)
Notable Alumni: Shaquille O’Neal, ’00 (4-time NBA Champion), Lolo Jones, ’05 (Olympic track and field athlete), Dr. James Andrews, ’63 (orthopedic surgeon)
Notes of Interest:
• LSU is one of only a handful of universities in the nation with land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant status.
• LSU has been ranked in the first tier for “Best National Universities” according to U.S. News and World Report’s America Best Colleges in the last six editions.
• LSU, which was founded on Jan. 2, 1860, has 72 major fields for Bachelor’s Degrees, 72 major fields for Master’s Degrees and 54 major fields for Doctoral Degrees.
• LSU is one of three schools to win six national titles in the 68-year history of the College World Series, claiming championships in 1991, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000 and 2009. The other schools are Southern California (12) and Texas (6).
• The Tigers have claimed three National Player of the Year awards – RHP Ben McDonald (1989), RHP Lloyd Peever (1992) and 1B Eddy Furniss (1998).

A Look at Tulane
Nickname: Green Wave
Conference: American Athletic Conference
Location | Enrollment: New Orleans, La. | 13,462
How They Reached NCAA Tournament: At-Large Bid
NCAA Tournament Appearances (inc. 2015): 20 (Last: 2008)
Notable Alumni: Jerry Springer, ’65 (talk show host), David Filo, ’88 (Co-Founder of Yahoo!), Newt Gingrich, ’68, ’71 (politican and author)
Notes of Interest:
• The Green Wave have had 26 players reach the Major Leagues and 28 players earn All-America notice.
• Tulane has made two previous trips to the College World Series, qualifying in 2001 and 2005 … The Green Wave also reached the NCAA Super Regional in 2004.
• Newsweek ranked Tulane 19th among the country’s 25 “most service-minded schools.”
• Tulane University was forced to cancel the 2005 Fall semester due to Hurricane Katrina, but resumed classes the following semester with 93 percent of all students returning to the campus.