The Cougars baseball team celebrated with friends and family when its placement in the NCAA tournament was made official. Andres Chio | The Cougar

The Houston Cougars’ baseball team are heading to the  Chapel Hill Regional this weekend alongside North Carolina, Purdue and North Carolina A&T.

The Cougars are the third seed in the regional and will face second seed Purdue in the first round of the double elimination tournament.

The winner of the regional will advance to the Super Regional against the winner of the DeLand Regionaal for a spot at the College World Series.

Last year, the Cougars hosted a regional, but lost 4-3 to Texas A&M and failed to make it to Omaha. The last time Houston made it to the Super Regionals was in 2014 when they lost to Texas.

Andres Chio | The Cougar

The 36-23 Cougars solidified its spot in the regional after a strong performance at the American Athletic Conference Championships.

The Cougars lost their first game in the tournament, but roared back with three straight wins to finish in the final four.

Houston was eliminated by No. 15 East Carolina in the loser’s bracket finals, but Houston’s wins against East Carolina, Wichita State and other ranked opponents during the regular season were enough to earn a spot at the regional.

The Cougars’ first game is Friday at 6 p.m. at Boshamer Stadium, North Carolina and can be watched on ESPN3.

sports@thedailycougar.com

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“Cougars head to NCAA Regional for fourth time in five years” was originally posted on The Daily Cougar