The Lewis-Clark State College baseball team will be the No. 7 seed in the 55th annual Avista NAIA World Series and will open the 10-team double-elimination tournament on May 27 against No. 10 seed Tennessee Wesleyan, the NAIA announced on Monday.
After Faulkner of Alabama and Oklahoma Baptist became the final two teams to qualify for the Series on Monday, the NAIA came out with the pairings for the tournament, which will be held May 27-June 3 at LCSC’s Harris Field.
No. 8 seed Faulkner (48-13), which is making its first appearance in the Series, will open against No. 9 seed Concordia (38-19) of California at 8:30 a.m., on May 27, followed by No. 4 LSU-Shreveport (45-13) and No. 5 Lee (47-12) at noon. At 3:30 p.m., third seed Oklahoma Baptist (45-12) and No. 6 seed Lubbock Christian (46-12) meet. After opening ceremonies at 6:30 p.m., LCSC will tangle with Tennessee Wesleyan (40-19).
No. 1 seed Embry-Riddle (50-9) and No. 2 seed Oklahoma City (46-10) receive first-round byes. Embry-Riddle will play the Faulkner-Concordia winner on May 28 at 3:30 p.m., while Oklahoma City awaits the LCSC-Tennessee Wesleyan winner at 7 p.m. on May 28.
While LCSC, Embry-Riddle, Oklahoma City, Lubbock Christian, and Lee are old hats at the Series, the others are relatively new. Tennessee Wesleyan made its first appearance last season in the Series but lost its only two games. Concordia and LSU Shreveport also are making just their second trips to nationals, while this is the third time Oklahoma Baptist has qualified.
LCSC, by virtue of its host berth, receives an automatic berth to the Series and still has two regular-season games remaining. LCSC will meet Seattle University on Tuesday at 3 p.m., and then again on Wednesday at 12:30 p.m. The second game was just added to the schedule.
