Catawba To Play Columbus State In NCAA Baseball Tournament
INDIANAPOLIS/>/> - Catawba/> College/>/>, the 2010 Food Lion SAC Baseball Tournament champions, will be the fifth seed in the Southeast Region tournament of the 2010 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship.
The 23rd-ranked Indians (40-11) will face second-seeded and 10th-ranked Columbus/> State/> University/>/> (42-10) at 3 p.m. on Thursday, May 13 at Francis/> Marion/> University/>/>'s Clifford S. Cormell Field in Florence/>, S.C./>/>
This is Catawba's fifth trip to the regional tournament in the past seven years. The Indians advanced to the region championship game in 2006 and 2008.
The Patriots, who are ranked fifth in the latest Collegiate Baseball Newspaper NCAA Division II Top 30 poll, own a 38-12 record and will face sixth-seeded and 20th-ranked Erskine College (40-15) in Thursday's final contest (time to be determined).
Thursday's other opening-round game will have third-seeded and eighth-ranked Georgia/> College & State/> University/>/> (35-15) playing fourth-seeded and sixth-ranked Mount/> Olive/> College/>/> (40-9).
The regional winner advances to the Division II World Series, May 22-29, at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary/>, N.C./>/> Lynn/> University/>/> is the defending national champion, while Mount/> Olive/>/> won the 2008 title.
The Southeast Regional could arguably be the toughest regional in the nation as it is the lone one to boast four teams ranked in the Top 10.
The 48-team NCAA Division II National Tournament field was released late Sunday night. The tournament consists of eight regionals. Nineteen teams, including CSU/> (Peach Belt Conference), Mount/> Olive/>/> (Conference Carolinas), and Catawba/> College/>/> (South Atlantic Conference), earned automatic berths by winning their conference titles.
Thursday, May 13
11:00 - GAME 3: #3 GCSU vs. #4 Mount Olive
3:00 - GAME 2 : #2 Columbus St. vs. Catawba
7:00 - GAME 1: #1 Francis Marion vs. #6 Erskine
Friday, May 14
11:00 - GAME 4: Loser of G1 vs. Loser of G2
3:00 - GAME 5: Winner of G1 vs. Loser of G3
7:00 - GAME 6: Winner of G2 vs. Winner of G3
Remaining days will be determined by the number of teams remaining after Friday and Satruday.