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The UCLA baseball team is headed to Oklahoma.

As unglamorous as that may sound, the Bruins wouldn’t have it any other way.

Their season-long goal of reaching the postseason officially became a reality at the Monday morning NCAA Regional selection show, as UCLA earned the third seed out of four teams in the Oklahoma City bracket, which starts on Friday.

“After our two out of three victories at Oregon State, it wasn’t a question whether we would make it,” coach Gary Adams said. “We’ll take Oklahoma; we’d go to Timbuktu if we had to.”

“At this point, it’s all about excitement,” junior Wes Whisler added.

UCLA will face host second-seeded Oklahoma in its opening game on Friday, while bracket-mates No. 1 Florida and No. 4 Central Connecticut State will play one another.

The Bruins’ first postseason berth since 2000 postpones Adams’ retirement for at least two more games because of the tournament’s double-elimination format.

“He definitely deserves the best,” catcher Chris Denove said. “We hope to give him more than just two more games.”

Although it had more losses than any other team that received an at-large bid, UCLA (33-27, 14-10 Pac-10) reached the postseason based on a solid overall season and a third-place finish in the Pac-10. UCLA’s regular season culminated last weekend with a series win at Oregon State (31-22, 10-14), marking the fifth straight conference road series that the Bruins have captured.

Likely needing at least one victory to wrap up a playoff bid, UCLA did better than that.

After dropping the opening game of the series Friday 3-2, the Bruins battled back, taking Saturday and Sunday’s games in convincing fashion and slamming the door on any thoughts of slipping from postseason consideration.

“There was not so much extra pressure because we found out on Friday we could beat them,” Denove said. “They just held us to three hits and we made some mistakes.”

Saturday, the sophomore backstop did his share to shrug off any apprehension. Denove went 4-for-4, including his eighth home run of the season, to lead the Bruins to a 12-2 victory.

On Sunday it was Whisler who carried the load, both on the mound and with his bat. The junior lefty supplied the exclamation point to end the regular season with an opposite field three-run home run capping a five-run eighth, en route to a 11-6 UCLA victory.

“We took care of business,” Adams said. “It seems like we’ve had different stars every game. (This weekend) was such a good team effort, with so many guys contributing.”

In the end, the Oregon State series will be quickly forgotten, as the Bruins will have to shift their year-long goal from making the postseason to thriving there. They will have a tough opening matchup against the two-time national champion Sooners (37-22), the second-place team in the powerful Big 12 conference.

Regardless of how it fares in Oklahoma City, UCLA is happy to have finally made it back to the postseason, where no current baseball Bruin has ever been.

“There are a lot of college baseball teams out there,” Adams said. “And to get there to final 64, you have to be pretty good.”