INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) tournament champion Centenary College earned its second bid into the 60-team NCAA Div. III Men’s Baseball Tournament, while Trinity University received its 14th bid into the championship field after receiving one of 18 at-large bids. Regional Bracket
The 60-team field will be broken out into 14, four-team regional sites and two teams will compete at two regional sites. The four-team regionals will use a double-elimination format and the two-team regionals will play a best-of-five series. Forty-one conference champions qualified automatically. The Gents and the Tigers will both be competing at one of the two, two team, best-of-five regionals.
This is the third-straight national tournament that the SCAC has placed two or more teams in the NCAA regionals. It is the ninth time in league history that two or more teams advanced to the NCAA regionals (1996, 2001-2002, 2006, 2009, 2012, 2019, 2021, 2022) and the first time the conference has strung together three-straight tournaments with multiple teams in the championship field.
Centenary (27-16), on the heels of capturing its second SCAC Tournament title earlier this month, will travel to Georgia to take on USA South Champion LaGrange (37-6). The Panthers earned the automatic bid out of the USA-South after sweeping N.C. Wesleyan in last Saturday’s championship series to capture the program’s fifth-straight tournament crown. The SCAC is 0-4 all-time versus USA-South teams in NCAA Tournament action, however this will be the first matchup between the two conferences since the 1996 event. The first game in the best-of-five series is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday afternoon.
The Gents, under the guidance of 12-year head coach Mike Diaz, is making its second Div. III NCAA Tournament appearance in program history. Centenary went 1-2 in the Tyler, Texas regional back in the 2017 event. Offensively, the Gents are led by three-time First Team All-SCAC performer Preston Ludwick, who enters the NCAA Tournament with a conference leading .411 (65-for-158) batting average, 42 RBI, 37 runs scored, five home runs and a .614 slugging percentage. SCAC Freshman and Pitcher-of-the-Year, Tyler Herrera enters the NCAA Tournament with an SCAC leading 1.34 ERA and a perfect 7-0 record in 67.0 innings of work to go along with 56 strikeouts to lead the Gents staff.
Trinity (32-10) is scheduled to travel to Richardson, Texas to face UT-Dallas (34-14), the automatic qualifier out of the American Southwest Conference, on Friday at 12 p.m. CT. The Comets defeated East Texas Baptist, 12-5, last Saturday in the deciding game three of the ASC championship series to claim their second-straight conference title and fourth trip to the NCAA Tournament in program history. Historically, the SCAC holds a 10-9 record against the American Southwest Conference all-time in NCAA Tournament, including a 1-0 record against UT-Dallas. TLU defeated the Comets, 2-1, in the Spokane, Washington Regional of the 2018 tournament.
Trinity led by head coach Tim Scannell in his 24th season, is making its third-straight and 14th overall NCAA Tournament appearance. The Tigers are led offensively by a pair of First Team All-SCAC outfielders in Ezra Gore and Brian Schaub. The All-SCAC duo has combined for 106 hits, 96 runs scored, 79 RBI, 16 home runs and 34 extra-base hits. On the mound, sophomore right-hander Joseph Chavana enters tournament play with a 9-1 record, including four complete games. The First Team All-SCAC pitcher currently holds a 3.77 ERA with 65 strikeouts in 71.2 innings of work to lead the Tiger pitching staff. Trinity enters this weekend’s NCAA Tournament with an overall tournament record of 33-24 and two trips to the Div. III Baseball College World Series, including the 2016 National Championship.
Winners of the sixteen regional tournaments will qualify for eight, best-of-three series at the super regionals, Friday-Saturday, May 27-28. The eight super regional winners will then qualify for the pool play double-elimination championship at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Friday-Tuesday/Wednesday, June 3-7/8, 2022. To view the entire NCAA Release, click here.
