IU Southeast Baseball Team Headed to Georgia for the NAIA Opening Round
IU Southeast Baseball Team Headed to Georgia for the NAIA Opening Round
Grenadiers making first trip to NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening RoundKANSAS CITY, Mo. - (Opening Round Scoreboard) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the pairings and site selection for the 2010 NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round. There are nine National Championship Opening Round sites, with the tournaments running from May 18-21. Each tournament is referred to as a "Group" and the bracket can be found here.
Indiana University Southeast (39-18) will take on Indiana Tech (33-26) on the first day of the opening round in Columbus, Ga. at Golden Park. Indiana Tech qualified for the opening round by winning the Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament. The Grenadiers earned their automatic bid by winning the KIAC Championship Series last weekend over Brescia University. Game times for the Columbus, Ga. site have not been announced.
This is the first time in school history that IU Southeast has appeared in the NAIA Baseball National Championship Opening Round.
Other teams who will be reporting to the Columbus, Ga. site are No. 1 LSU-Shreveport, No. 2 Southern Poly State, No. 3 Tennessee Wesleyan and No. 5 Indiana Tech. Each first round site across the country will feature a five-team double elimination tournament.
The winners of those nine National Championship Opening Round tournaments, in addition to World Series host Lewis-Clark State (Idaho), will meet at the final site of the 54th Annual Avista-NAIA World Series from May 28-June 4 in Lewiston, Idaho. The 10-team, official bracket for the Avista-NAIA World Series will be announced by 7 p.m. CDT on May 21.
The list of official National Championship Opening Round host sites is: Cleveland, Tenn., Columbus, Ga., Daytona Beach, Fla., Fresno, Calif., Jackson, Miss., Joliet, Ill., Lubbock, Texas, Oklahoma City, Okla., and Riverside, Calif. Four of the sites also hosted a 2009 Opening Round tournament: Cleveland, Daytona Beach, Lubbock and Oklahoma City.
Perhaps the most difficult Opening Round tournament is Group #2 with California Baptist University as the host. According to the final Top 25 ranking released on Wednesday, California Baptist is ranked No. 3 followed by No. 10 Madonna (Mich.) and No. 15 College of Idaho. This Group is the only one with three top-15 ranked programs.
This year's field is comprised of 32 automatic qualifiers from NAIA affiliated conferences, Association of Independent Institutions and unaffiliated groupings and 14 at-larges, which were determined using the final Top 25 rating released on Wednesday. Defending national champion Lubbock Christian (Texas), one of nine Opening Round hosts, is appearing in its ninth National Championship. The Chaps qualified as winners of the Sooner Athletic Conference regular season with an overall record of 43-13.
No. 1-ranked Lewis-Clark State holds the most wins in Championship history with a 117-13 record and are making their NAIA-record 29th overall trip. The Warriors have won seven of the last 11 World Series titles and a NAIA-high 16 overall trophies. Among the Championship field, eight programs have won at least one World Series title. Behind the national record of 16 rings earned by Lewis-Clark State, Lubbock Christian is the other member with multiple National Championships (1983, 2009).
Four teams are making at least their 10th trip to the National Championship led by the 29 appearances of Lewis-Clark State. Cumberland (Tenn.), Oklahoma City and William Jewell (Mo.) all are playing in their 12th event.
Twelve teams are making their first National Championship appearance: Avila (Mo.), Faulkner (Ala.), Huntington (Ind.), Indiana-Southeast, Missouri Baptist, Mount Marty (S.D.), Northwestern (Iowa), Rio Grande (Ohio), Robert Morris (Ill.), South Carolina-Beaufort, Texas at Brownsville and York (Neb.).
2010 National Championship Opening Round Pairings
|
Opening Round ID |
Opening Round Host |
Schools Involved |
|
Group #1 |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference, City of Joliet, Ill., and University of Saint Francis (Ill.) - located in Joliet, Ill., at Silver Cross Field |
No. 1 Cumberland (Tenn.)
No. 2 Campbellsville (Ky.)
No. 3 St. Francis (Ill.)
No. 4 Robert Morris (Ill.)
No. 5 Mayville State (N.D.) |
|
Group #2 |
California Baptist University - located in Riverside, Calif., at Totman Stadium |
No. 1 California Baptist
No. 2 Madonna (Mich.)
No. 3 College of Idaho
No. 4 Vanguard (Calif.)
No. 5 Huntington (Ind.) |
|
Group #3 |
Lee University - located in Cleveland, Tenn., at Olympic Field (website) |
No. 1 Lee (Tenn.)
No. 2 South Carolina-Beaufort
No. 3 Taylor (Ind.)
No. 4 William Jewell (Mo.)
No. 5 Mount Vernon Nazarene (Calif.) |
|
Group #4 |
Lubbock Christian University - located in Lubbock, Texas, at Hays Field |
No. 1 Lubbock Christian (Texas)
No. 2 York (Neb.)
No. 3 Avila (Mo.)
No. 4 Mount Marty (S.D.)
No. 5 Texas at Brownsville |
|
Group #5 |
Oklahoma City University - located in Oklahoma City, Okla., at Jim Wade Stadium (website) |
No. 1 Oklahoma City
No. 2 Union (Tenn.)
No. 3 Jamestown (N.D.)
No. 4 Grand View (Iowa)
No. 5 Northwestern (Iowa) |
|
Group #6 |
Fresno Pacific University - located in Fresno, Calif., at FPU Diamond |
No. 1 British Columbia
No. 2 Fresno Pacific (Calif.)
No. 3 Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.)
No. 4 Houston-Victoria (Texas)
No. 5 Ohio Dominican |
|
Group #7 |
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - located in Daytona Beach, Fla., at Embry-Riddle Sliwa Stadium |
No. 1 Embry-Riddle (Fla.)
No. 2 Faulkner (Ala.)
No. 3 Rio Grande (Ohio)
No. 4 Union (Ky.)
No. 5 St. Thomas (Fla.) |
|
Group #8 |
Columbus Sports Council - located in Columbus, Ga., at Golden Park |
No. 1 LSU-Shreveport
No. 2 Southern Poly State (Ga.)
No. 3 Tennessee Wesleyan
No. 4 Indiana Southeast
No. 5 Indiana Tech |
|
Group #9 |
Belhaven University - located in Jackson, Miss., at Smith-Wills Stadium (website) |
No. 1 Missouri Baptist
No. 2 Belhaven (Miss.)
No. 3 Brewton-Parker (Ga.)
No. 4 Texas Wesleyan
No. 5 Kansas Wesleyan |
2010 Baseball National Championship Opening Round Qualifiers (46)
Team (Overall Record) Qualification Apps* Record^ Titles
|
Avila University (Mo.) (36-12) |
Heart of America Athletic Tournament Champion |
1 |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Belhaven University (Miss.)
(40-15) |
At-Large #4 |
2 |
3-2 |
0 |
|
Brewton-Parker College (Ga.)
(40-16) |
Southern States Athletic Tournament Champion |
3 |
6-2 |
1 (1997) |
|
University of British Columbia
(39-11) |
Unaffiliated (Cal Pacific/Cascade Collegiate/A.I.I.) Tournament Champion |
3 |
3-4 |
0 |
|
California Baptist University
(45-13) |
Golden State Athletic Tournament and Regular Season Champion |
2 |
2-2 |
0 |
|
Campbellsville University (Ky.)
(40-20) |
At-Large #10 |
2 |
4-3 |
0 |
|
Cumberland University (Tenn.)
(50-9) |
TranSouth Athletic Tournament Champion |
12 |
21-20 |
1 (2004) |
|
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Fla.) (41-16) |
The Sun Tournament and Regular Season Champion |
9 |
16-16 |
0 |
|
Faulkner University (Ala.)
(39-19) |
At-Large #6 |
1 |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Fresno Pacific University (Calif.)
(35-15) |
Golden State Athletic Tournament Runner-Up |
2 |
6-3 |
0 |
|
Grand View University (Iowa)
(29-18) |
Midwest Collegiate Tournament Champion |
4 |
1-6 |
0 |
|
Houston-Victoria (Texas), University of (31-20) |
Association of Independent Institutions Tournament Champion |
2 |
1-2 |
0 |
|
Huntington University (Ind.)
(31-20) |
Mid-Central College Tournament Champion |
1 |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Idaho, College of (37-14) |
At-Large #5 |
5 |
13-7 |
1 (1998) |
|
Indiana Institute of Technology
(33-26) |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Tournament Champion |
8 |
11-14 |
0 |
|
Indiana University-Southeast
(39-18) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
1 |
0-0 |
0 |
|
Jamestown College (N.D.)
(39-11) |
At-Large #13 |
4 |
1-6 |
0 |
|
Kansas Wesleyan University
(32-17) |
Kansas Collegiate Athletic Tournament Champion |
2 |
2-2 |
0 |
|
Lee University (Tenn.) (46-11) |
At-Large #1 |
5 |
11-8 |
0 |
|
Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) (47-3) |
World Series Host Berth |
29 |
117-33 |
16 (last in 2008) |
|
Louisiana State University-Shreveport (47-11) |
Gulf Coast Athletic Tournament Champion |
3 |
4-4 |
0 |
|
Lubbock Christian University (Texas) (43-13) |
Sooner Athletic Regular Season Champion |
9 |
22-15 |
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