Embry-Riddle, South Carolina-Beaufort and St. Thomas Earn Berths in Opening Round
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Three Sun Conference baseball teams will compete in the 2010 NAIA National Championship Opening Round from May 18-21, 2010. Embry-Riddle, South Carolina-Beaufort and St. Thomas all earned berths into the 45 team field.
Embry-Riddle (41-16), the No. 8 team in the final NAIA Coaches' Poll Top 25, earned an automatic bid by winning their third consecutive Sun Conference regular season crown. The Eagles won this week's tournament in Ft. Myers, Fla., and were also awarded a host bid. ERAU will host one of nine regional Opening Rounds across the nation. Five teams at each of the nine host sites will compete for the chance to advance to Lewiston, Idaho for the Avista-NAIA World Series. The Blue and Gold have advanced to the World Series each of the last two seasons and have a 16-16 record in the NAIA Baseball National Championship.
USCB (38-13) is ranked No. 20 in the final poll and will participate in their first Opening Round. The Sand Sharks grabbed the ninth at-large bid after bowing out of The Sun Conference Tournament in two games. USCB put together a 13-game winning streak earlier in the season and only lost one conference series.
The cinderella of The Sun Conference Tournament, St. Thomas rounds out the conference's teams in the Opening Round. The Bobcats (30-29) received the second at-large bid in The Sun Conference when they finished as the runner-up in the conference tournament. STU finished fifth in conference play, but battled their way through the winner's bracket by defeating No. 2 seed USCB, No. 4 SCAD and No. 1 Embry-Riddle before falling on Championship Wednesday to the Eagles. St. Thomas is making their fifth appearance in the Opening Round with a 3-8 record.
The pairings for the Opening Round will be announced by 6 p.m. EST on Friday.
Click HERE for the NAIA National Office Release.