Official NCAA Release
Interactive Bracket
INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division II Baseball Championship bracket was revealed for Great Midwest Athletic Conference champion Kentucky Wesleyan late Sunday night during the traditional selection show.
The Panthers (27-22 overall) punched their ticket to the national tourney for the first time since 1988, earning the No. 8 seed in the Midwest Regional, a double-elimination setup that will be conducted in Midland, Mich., at Northwood University.
The championship field consists of 56 teams, including 23 automatic qualifiers and 33 at-large selections as determined by the national committee.
KWC earned the school's third conference tournament title of the 2016-17 academic year on Saturday, joining trophies already in Owensboro from the sports of men's basketball and softball.
A perfect 4-0 run as the No. 3 seed through the conference tournament at Prasco Park in Mason, Ohio, was punctuated with a 10th-inning walk-off win in Saturday's final vs. Malone.
Kentucky Wesleyan veteran skipper Todd Lillpop along with a dozen all-conference selections now turn their focus to the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) champion Northwood.
The Panthers are power packed in the lineup with seven home runs apiece from Andrew Kirkland, Adam Brown and Josh Galvan. Leadoff Cody Bridges emerged as one of the most impressive players in the conference tournament and batted .429 (9-for-21) with five extra-base hits.
Sophomore Ryan Hundley gave his team 12.2 innings as a starter/reliever and freshman Alex Franzen was lights out in 3.2 relief innings during high-leverage situations. 2015 and 2016 G-MAC Freshmen of the Year Sammy Holder and Zach Burton also gave KWC strong innings along with a G-MAC Pitcher of the Week, Nate Verst (5 IP, 0 R vs. OVU).
The Timberwolves beat future 2018-19 Great Midwest member institution Tiffin in Sunday's final in Xenia, Ohio, by a score of 8-4. NU is 43-11 overall and went 26-6 in the GLIAC this spring.
KWC and Northwood will play on Thursday, May 18, at 1:30 p.m. EDT. Live stats and video will be available for all of the Midwest Region action.
The winner would advance to play the victor between No. 4 Drury and No. 5 Bellarmine on Friday at 5 p.m. The loser would play either Drury or Bellarmine also on Friday, but at 10 a.m.
The NCAA Championship provides for two regional sites hosting six teams, four regional sites hosting seven teams and two regional sites hosting eight teams, for a total of eight regional sites. All regionals will be played May 18-22. Regional champions will advance to the double-elimination championship finals May 27-June 3 at The Ballpark in Grand Prairie in Grand Prairie, Texas. The finals will be hosted by the Angelo State University and Texas AirHogs Professional Baseball.