OXFORD, Miss. – There is a certain mystique surrounding the University of Maine’s appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s Oxford Regional.

Coach Paul Kostacopoulos’ Black Bears take on a high-caliber opponent, in a completely unfamiliar setting, in their biggest challenge of the season.

America East champion UMaine carries a 34-17 record into its 8 p.m. first-round contest against the host University of Mississippi (44-18), an at-large selection from the Southeastern Conference, at Oxford-University Stadium’s Swayze Field.

The Rebels are the No. 5 seed nationally for the NCAA Tournament and are the top seed in Oxford. Ole Miss is ranked No. 9 in one national poll and 11th in two others.

Second-seeded Southern Mississippi (41-19) and No. 3 Oklahoma (33-24) play in today’s 4 p.m. opener.

The Bears are well aware they’ll be up against some stiff competition in the 64-team, double-elimination tourney.

“I honestly don’t know a lot about [Mississippi],” said junior outfielder Ryan Quintal. “I don’t see a lot of college baseball on TV, but I’m excited. It’s nice to be able to play a top-five [seeded] team in the country.”

UMaine knows it is the underdog here, but must concentrate on playing well rather than worrying about the caliber of its opponents.

“We’ve got to take a little bit of that aura off this. It’s still baseball,” Kostacopoulos said. “We’ve got to do a good job of toning some of this stuff down, just so we feel comfortable in our own skin going in and playing.”

Today’s losers meet Saturday in a 2 p.m. elimination contest. The winners play at 6 p.m. Saturday.

UMaine’s four fourth-year players are playing an important role in demystifying the NCAA tourney. Senior co-captains Aaron Izaryk and Greg Creek, along with classmate Mike Ferriggi and junior Scott Robinson, have some NCAA experience.

They hope to share some of the important lessons they learned during a two-game stint at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles three years ago.

“It’s not as tough as you think it is,” Ferriggi said. “You read so much about Mississippi, you read so much about these great schools. It’s not as glamorous. They’re not that much better than we are.”

Most UMaine players have game experience against some of the country’s outstanding programs. In March, UMaine played a three-game series against Stetson, which also is in the tournament. The Bears won 4-3, lost 6-5 and dropped a 13-2 decision.

Last season, UMaine played at perennial power Miami and in 2003 the Bears took on the likes of Clemson.

“Some of the younger guys see that and I think they understand that we can hang around with some of these teams,” Izaryk said. “We don’t need to be scared of anybody.”

The Bears need to go into the regional believing, as they did during the America East tournament, they can win it all.

“Everybody looks at those big teams like they’re really, really good, but I think we have a solid team and we can compete with basically anyone,” said sophomore right-hander Steve Richard (8-1), who will start tonight’s game. “I think if we come out and play the way we’re capable of playing, we can make a good run at it.”

Another distraction the Bears may have to deal with is a large, hostile Ole Miss crowd. Southern fans are known for their ability to heckle opposing players and the Rebels could have a crowd approaching 10,000 fans at Swayze Field.

“I’m sure it’s like most Southeastern Conference venues; very excitable crowds, large crowds,” Kostacopoulos said. “It’s hard to prepare for that because we never play in an environment like that.”

Creek, who enjoys playing in front of 500 or so at Mahaney Diamond, thinks the Bears will feed off the atmosphere.

“It’s going to be a fun atmosphere to play in,” Creek said. “It doesn’t matter who they rooting for. It’s fun to have somebody in your face, yelling all the time.”