At the media press conference Thursday, all the visiting coaches made a point to mention the tip-top shape of 'the facility.'

"It is a first class facility," Ball State head coach Greg Beals said.

College of Charleston's John Pawlowski: "We just got off the field and the field is in tremendous shape."

Finally, Notre Dame's Paul Mainieri: "We haven’t practiced on this field yet, but it’s a beautiful field. I remarked to our coaches when we walked in at how nice the grass looked."

Rest assured, baseball fans, the grass is nice! It's also green, the dirt is brown, and the foul lines are straight and white! Now if we could just get the tarps off the field -- it's been raining all morning.

As for the field of teams here in Lexington, it might be the strongest of any regional. It certainly has the most wins -- 167 among the four teams.

Kentucky, the SEC regular season champion, is hosting and will be opening against MAC champion Ball State, which is making its first tourney appearance since 1969. Charleston, the two seed, is making its third straight trip to the tournament. The challenge for the Cougars will be keeping their pitching, which is their strength, effective in this diminutive ball park (it's 310 to right).

Then there's Notre Dame. Ranked #15 to end the season and winners of the BIG EAST tournament, the Irish were expecting to host a regional. Instead, they were given a three seed. And they're none too happy about it.

"I am totally befuddled by it," Mainieri said. "We're not a one-year wonder. We've been doing this for so many years, and it seems like every year we have to prove ourselves. I'm tired of it."

Apparently, though, coming to Lexington is some consolation to the coach. His players, he said, were tired from jet-setting, so a relatively close away game (6 hours by bus is close?) makes things easier. It also means there will be a fair number of Notre Dame fans in the stands.

Plus, the field is nice.