Bridgewater Set to Play at Methodist Regional

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. --- Bridgewater College will be the only representative from the ODAC in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament, as announced in the NCAA regional pairings release on Monday.  The Eagles earned their place in the NCAA field by winning the ODAC tournament title.  In order to receive the conference’s automatic bid, BC had to defeat Lynchburg College twice on championship Sunday to secure the league crown.

The NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament features 54 teams from across the nation.  Automatic bids went out to each of 36 winners of conferences with automatic qualification, including Bridgewater.  The rest of the field is made up of four “Pool B” and 14 “Pool C” at-large bids.  Pool B includes teams that play independent of a conference or are from a conference that does not have automatic qualification into the NCAA Tournament.  Pool C includes all teams not receiving an automatic or Pool B bid, including those Pool B teams that were not chosen in the original selection of independent qualifiers.

The Eagles (23-18-1) will travel to Fayetteville, N.C., to play in an six-team regional hosted by Methodist University.  Double-elimination play will begin on Wednesday, May 19 and continue thru Sunday, May 23.  BC draws a first round matchup with Shenandoah University.  The Hornets (34-8) are the top ranked team in the NCAA Division III South Region Standings, and sit 10^th in the latest NCBWA/D3baseball.com Top-25 Poll.

The remaining at teams at the Methodist Regional (click HERE for the regional website) are #23 Salisbury University (27-11), University of Mary Washington (26-12), York College (Pa.; 28-14) and LaGrange College (26-17).  Bridgewater will be playing as the sixth seed.

The winner of the Methodist regional will join seven other regional champions from across the nation for the 2010 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship in Appleton, Wisc., at Time-Warner Cable Field at Fox Cities Stadium.  The five-day event, hosted by the Lawrence University and Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, will be played from Friday, May 28 thru Tuesday, June 1.  It will also be played under a double-elimination format.

For more information on the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament, including full interactive and printable brackets (as they become available), visit the championship website hosted by the NCAA at http://www.ncaa.com/sports/m-basebl/champpage/m-basebl-div3-index.html.

REGIONAL SITES (website hub – click HERE)
Hosted by Augustana College (Illinois), Moline, Illinois
1. Buena Vista (29-11)
2. North Central (Illinois) (31-9)
3. Ripon (24-15)
4. Webster (33-9)
5. Rose-Hulman (29-12)
6. Illinois Wesleyan (23-20)

Hosted by the State University of New York at Cortland, Auburn, New York
1. SUNY Cortland (32-8)
2. St. John Fisher (28-12)
3. Oneonta State 28-11)
4. Skidmore (30-13)
5. Keene State (26-15-1)
6. Farmingdale State (24-15)
7. College at Brockport (23-16)
8. Castleton (32-13)

Hosted by Eastern Connecticut State University, Mansfield, Connecticut
1. Tufts (31-5)
2. Wheaton (Massachusetts) 32-8)
3. Western New England (33-10)
4. Eastern Connecticut State (30-13)
5. Worcester State (31-19-1)
6. Westfield State (30-9)
7. Massachusetts-Boston (28-15)
8. St. Joseph's (Maine) (32-11)

Hosted by Kean University, Trenton, New Jersey
1. Johns Hopkins (38-4)
2. Kean (34-10)
3. Widener (25-12)
4. Alvernia (32-10)
5. Keystone (29-7)
6. Rowan (24-14-1)
7. Manhattanville (22-19-1)
8. Moravian (26-13)

Hosted by Linfield College, McMinnville, Oregon
1. Chapman (30-9)
2. Linfield (30-10)
3. Pomona-Pitzer (29-9)
4. Texas-Tyler (35-10)
5. Mississippi College (36-9)
6. Trinity (Texas) 32-7)

Hosted by Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio
1. Heidelberg (37-6)
2. Wooster (34-7)
3. Marietta (32-11)
4. Washington and Jefferson (32-10)
5. Adrian (29-11)
6. Thomas More (31-14)
7. Penn State-Behrend (29-14)

Hosted by Methodist University, Fayetteville, North Carolina
1. Shenandoah (34-8)
2. Salisbury (27-11)
3. Mary Washington (26-12)
4. York (Pennsylvania) (28-14)
5. LaGrange (26-17)
6. Bridgewater (Virginia) (23-18-1)

Hosted by University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, Whitewater, Wisconsin
1. Wisconsin-Whitewater (38-5)
2. St. Thomas (Minnesota) (33-7)
3. St. Scholastica (38-6)
4. Wisconsin-Stevens Point (29-15)
5. Carthage (28-16)
6. Aurora (27-14)