“I think we had a good enough ball club to compete at a national level and (we’re) disappointed that we weren’t selected and (also) disappointed that we were the (final) team out,” head coach Jake Boss Jr. said.

The 30 conference champions automatically qualify. The remaining 34 teams are selected at-large by the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee.

According to various media outlets, the Spartans (33-17 overall, 12-9 Big Ten) were not predicted to receive a bid after coming up short of the Big Ten Tournament.

MSU likely needed to sweep its final Big Ten series against Penn State to receive a bid to the tournament.

“We kind of made our own bed and now we have to lie in it,” Boss said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys on next year’s ball club and hopefully we’ll learn from this experience.”

Indiana earned the Big Ten’s automatic bid and No. 1 seed after winning the conference tournament. Illinois earned an at-large selection and are a No. 3 seed.

This marks the second-straight season that two Big Ten teams have been selected to the NCAA Tournament.

Boss said the team is losing an great group of seniors that consists of seniors pitchers Cody Huge, Trey Popp, Andrew Waszak, Joe Zwierzynski, pitcher and first baseman Trevor Cousineau and outfielder Jordan Keur.

“We lose an outstanding group of seniors, Boss said. “All those guys have put their heart and souls into this ball club and it’s unfortunate that we can’t continue playing.”

The NCAA Tournament begins with 16 four-team regionals hosted by the highest-seeded teams. One winner advances from each double-elimination regional to the super regionals. The super regionals are a best-of-three format.

The eight winners of the super regionals advance to the College World Series, which will be held from June 15-26 in Omaha, Neb.