Lewis-Clark State College (Idaho) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) have announced that the NAIA Baseball World Series will return here in the year 2000 at the start of a seven-year contract that will extend to 2006.

LCSC will host the national championship tournament for the first time since 1991, the last of eight consecutive NAIA World Series held at Harris Field on the school's campus. As part of the new agreement, LCSC will earn an automatic berth in the 10-team tournament in both of the first two years.

In 1999, the NAIA Baseball World Series will be held in Palm Beach County, Fla., as part of the NAIA's Spring Championship Games, an eight-championship Olympic-style event that made its debut in May 1998. If the NAIA decides to renew the SCG format in 2003 with baseball, there is a clause in the contract that gives it the option of moving the tournament for one year only. In any case, LCSC is guaranteed of hosting the tournament for six out of seven years.

"I feel really good about the agreement we have with the NAIA," says LCSC Athletic Director Gary Picone. "We have truly formed a partnership. We want the student-athletes who participate to have the experience of a lifetime. Lewis-Clark State College feels strongly that the Lewiston-Clarkston communities deserve an opportunity to again show that they are the best NAIA baseball communities in the country.

"Lewiston, Clarkston and the rest of the valley have a rich tradition in baseball and Lewis-Clark State has a great tradition. The NAIA is very important to the people of this region, and the credibility of the Association is significant to Lewis-Clark State. This has been a baseball community on many levels for many years, and we will be very dependent on the community to support this event."

LCSC will look to continue its current capital improvements to Harris Field by installing left field seating and improving lighting. The ballpark seats a capacity crowd of approximately 5,000, and its caretakers are accustomed to staging championship play.

"Lewis-Clark State's tradition and the community's interest in the NAIA baseball tournament played a major part in our decision to bring the NAIA Baseball World Series back to Lewiston," says Steve Baker, President and CEO of the NAIA. "Additionally, a key factor was the NAIA Baseball Coaches Association's belief that previously the tournament was very successful and it is the right place for the tournament now. I know the community is very excited to see the championship return, and we are very confident it will be a successful home for the NAIA baseball championship."

Scott Berry, Mayville State University (N.D.) baseball coach and president of the NAIA Baseball Coaches Association, also points to the longevity of the agreement as an important step. "It was important for us as a baseball coaches association to find a home for baseball," he says. "What we find in most divisions of baseball is that they are finding a site and keeping it there. Then it gets a tremendous reception and gets treated as a tremendous event.

"I felt like the NAIA could do the same thing by finding a place to call home and showing the world what kind of outstanding product we have. Lewiston and Clarkston have been NAIA hotbeds for many years, and there is a real passion for baseball there. We're happy to be going there."