FIU's Wittels inches closer to Ventura's record

Florida International's Garrett Wittels realizes he is four hits away from history but he'd take four wins instead.

"Honestly, I try not to think about it,'' Wittels said on Monday, after learning the Golden Panthers will face Texas A&M on Friday in the first round of the Miami regional. "But you have to score to win games and you need hits to score runs.''

Pairings were announced on Monday for the NCAA Division I Baseball Championship. Arizona State (47-8) is the No. 1 seed overall, followed by Texas (46-11) and Florida (42-15). While Florida State (42-17) did not get a host site it was given the No. 1 seed in the Norwich (Conn.) Regional to give the Sunshine State three top seeds in the 16 regionals.

Wittels has a hit in 54 straight games for the Golden Panthers (36-23). The sophomore infielder is within four games of matching Robin Ventura's NCAA record of 58 straight games with a hit

Ventura set the record in 1987 while playing at Oklahoma State.

"It's definitely an exciting time right now,'' Wittels said of FIU's first NCAA bid since 2001. "But I'm not thinking about hits, I'm thinking more about wins.''

The Golden Panthers clinched the NCAA bid by winning the Sun Belt Conference title. Wittels was named the league's player of the year. The streak almost ended at 53, getting a hit in his final at-bat in the tournament championship.

Florida was given the No. 3 overall seed and will host a regional includes Bethune-Cookman (35-20), which faces the Gators in the first round, along with Oregon State (31-22) and Florida Atlantic (35-22).

FSU is the same regional with first-round opponent Central Connecticut State (33-21), Oregon (38-22) and Connecticut (47-14). In addition to FIU and Miami (40-17), the Coral Gables Regional will include 'Canes first-round opponent Dartmouth (26-17) and Texas A&M (40-19-1) _ which will try to end Wittels' streak.

The SEC lead all leagues with eight teams getting bids.

Wittels grew up in the Miami area which will make playing in the NCAA tourney and going for the record all that much more special.

"It's going to be a lot of fun having a lot our fans there on Friday when we play Texas A&M,'' Wittels said.

As for his personal attack on Ventura's mark, the sophomore declared: "I'm just happy to be mentioned in the same sentence with such a great player.''

If he gets at least one hit and the Golden Panthers play four games in the double-elimination event in Coral Gables, he'll share that sentence in the NCAA record book.