The top seed in the Starkville Regional, MSU earned the No. 6 national seed to tie its highest national seed since the NCAA began the practice in 1999. The Bulldogs will open the Starkville Regional at noon Friday against Southern University.

The Bulldogs also took the No. 6 seed into the 2016 NCAA Baseball Championship, winning the 2016 Starkville Regional before dropping the NCAA Starkville Super Regional to eventual national runner-up Arizona.

Miami (Fla.) earned an at-large bid and the No. 2 seed in the Starkville Regional and will play No. 3 seed and Mid-American Conference champion Central Michigan in the opening round. State will face No. 4 seed and SWAC champion Southern its first game of the Starkville Regional.

Mississippi State (46-13) and Southern (32-22) will open the tournament at Noon CT, with Miami (Fla.) (39-18) and Central Michigan (46-12) playing the second game on the opening day at 7 p.m. CT. The winner of the Starkville Regional will advance to meet the winner of the Stanford Regional hosted by the No. 11 overall seed Stanford.