UAA champion Washington University will be joined by Emory University in the field of the 2017 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship.
2017 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Selections
The Bears will play in the Central Region Thursday-Sunday, May 18-21, at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Ill. for the second straight postseason as Webster University will serve as the host.
WashU, the 2017 University Athletic Association (UAA) champions, finished the regular season with a 26-8 overall record and is the Central Region No. 2 seed in the six team regional. The Bears are ranked No. 15 in the country by D3baseball.com and No. 18 by the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA). WashU will face No. 5 seed North Central College (25-16) on Thursday. Game times have yet to be determined.
Also playing in the regional is No. 1 seed and 5th-ranked Birmingham Southern College (36-8) against No. 6 seed Greenville College (30-15), as well as No. 3 seed Wartburg College (31-12) versus No. 4 seed Webster (29-13) on Thursday.
WashU has faced three of the teams in the regional during the 2017 season, including top seeded Birmingham Southern in the opening weekend of play. The Bears fell in both contests, 3-1 (Feb. 25) and 5-4 (Feb. 26) but defeated Greenville in its next game 11-5 on March 1. The Red and Green beat Greenville again on March 22, 7-6. WashU fell to Webster 7-5 in the lone meeting of the season on April 12 at GCS Ballpark.
The Bears have a 6-20 (.231) all-time record in NCAA play in 10 previous appearances. The Bears went 2-2 in postseason play last year.
Emory will be making its fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Division III Championships and the 14th overall in program history as the Eagles were one of the 56 teams selected to the tournament field as announced by the NCAA early Monday morning.
Emory earned one of the two Pool "B" at-large selections and will be headed to the South Regional in Danville, Virginia hosted by Averett University from Thursday, May 18th through Sunday, May 21st. Joining the Eagles in the Regional will be Salisbury, LaGrange, Rowan, Otterbein and Roanoke.
The Eagles will be the fourth seed in the region and will open against third-seeded Rowan on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 PM.
Top-seeded Salisbury will face sixth-seeded Roanoke while second-seeded LaGrange will open against fifth-seeded Otterbein.
Emory finished the regular season with a 27-12 overall record, the team's fourth straight 25-win campaign and sixth in the last seven seasons. The Eagles are one of just two Division III programs to advance to the College World Series in each of the past three years.
South Region Hosted by Averett University, Danville, Va.
1. Salisbury vs. 6. Roanoke
2. LaGrange vs. 5. Otterbein
3. Rowan vs. 4. Emory
Mideast Region Hosted by Washington and Jefferson, Washington, Pa.
1. Wooster vs. 8. Earlham
2. Cortland vs. 7. DePauw
3. La Roche vs. 6. Keystone
4. Washington & Jefferson vs. 5. Misericordia
Central Region Hosted by Webster University, Sauget, Ill.
1. Birmingham-Southern vs. 6. Greenville
2. Washington U. vs. 5. North Central (Ill.)
3. Wartburg vs. 4. Webster
West Region Hosted by The University of Texas at Tyler, Tyler, Texas
1. Texas-Tyler vs. 6. Rhodes
2. Cal Lutheran vs. 5. Concordia (Texas)
3. Centenary (La.) vs. 4. Linfield
Mid-Atlantic Region Hosted by Middle Atlantic Conference, York, Pa.
1. Johns Hopkins vs. 8. Lesley
2. Shenandoah vs. 7. SUNY Maritime
3. Wheaton (Mass.) vs. 6. Elizabethtown
4. RIT vs. 5. Alvernia
New York Region Hosted by SUNYAC, Syracuse, N.Y.
1. Oswego State vs. 6. Ithaca
2. Southern Maine vs. 5. Castleton
3. TCNJ vs. 4. Tufts
New England Region Hosted by Massachusetts Maritime Academy, Harwich, Mass.
1. Mass-Boston vs. 8. Penn State-Berks
2. Arcadia vs. 7. Worcester State
3. St. John Fisher vs. 6. Suffolk
4. Salve Regina vs. 5. Babson
Midwest Region Hosted by Wisconsin-Whitewater, Whitewater, Wis.
1. UW-Whitewater vs. 8. St. Norbert
2. Concordia-Chicago vs. 7. Macalester
3. Adrian vs. 6. St. Thomas
4. St. Scholastica vs. 5. UW-La Crosse