Webster Top Seed While Hosting Regional
For the third straight year, Webster is hosting the Central Regional Tournament, but it is the first time they have earned the No. 1 seed in the event. This year's Central Regional Tournament will feature eight teams playing in a double-elimination formatted tournament that is scheduled for May 17-20, with May 21 being used for the if-necessary game.
Thomas More (24-18) earned the automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament after taking home the President's Athletic Conference Tournament title with a 7-5 win over Washington & Jefferson in the title game on Saturday. The PAC title was the fifth all-time for the Saints, who are making its eighth all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament and first since 2016.
For the first time this season, the NCAA Division III Baseball Committee selected 58 teams for the 2018 NCAA Division III Baseball Championship Tournament, including 40 teams earning automatic qualification after winning their respective conference tournaments, while two teams earned Pool B selections (Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Wisconsin-Whitewater) and the remaining 16 teams earned Pool C selections.
Six teams will compete at three regional sites and eight teams, including the Central Regional hosted by Webster, will compete at five regional sites. All the regionals are double elimination and the winners of all eight regional tournaments will qualify for the pool play double-elimination championship at Neuroscience Group Field at Fox Cities Stadium in Appleton, Wis., that is scheduled for May 25-29/30, 2018.
The Gorloks, who have won 22 of its last 23 games and enter the NCAA Tournament sporting a 36-8 overall record and went 20-2 in SLIAC play, earned the automatic bid from the St. Louis Intercollegiate Conference after earning an 8-0 win late Saturday night over Greenville in the second championship game of the SLIAC Tournament hosted by Greenville University.
Webster is making its 12th all-time appearance in the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament as they have posted a 21-23 all-time record in the tournament, including advancing to the Division III World Series in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Last season, Webster earned the No. 4 seed in the six-team Central Regional and they lost both of their games as they fell 3-0 in the opening round to Wartburg, before suffering a 6-4 setback in an elimination round game to Birmingham-Southern, who advanced to the championship game before falling to North Central (Ill.) College.
In addition to Webster and Thomas More, the other three first round games on Thursday at GCS Credit Union Ballpark are No. 4 seed Rhodes College (29-14), the champion from the Southern Athletic Association meeting No. 5 seed Franklin (Ind.) (38-3), who is the champion from the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference at 10 a.m. The third game on Thursday that is scheduled for 4:30 p.m. matches No. 3 seed Texas-Tyler (29-16), a Pool C entrant facing No. 6 seed Aurora (30-13), who earned the automatic bid from the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference and the final game on Thursday that is slated for 7:45 p.m. will match No. 2 seed Wisconsin-Whitewater (31-6), a Pool B entrant facing No. 7 seed Monmouth (Ill.) (28-12-1), who is the champion from the Midwest Conference.
During the regular season, Webster posted a 3-2 record against teams that qualified for the NCAA Tournament as they went 1-0 against both Rhodes and Southern Maine, who is the No. 3 seed in the New York Region, 1-1 against Concordia (Chicago), who is the top seed in the Midwest Region and was 0-1 against Concordia (Texas), who is the No. 3 seed in the West Region.
Listed below is the 2018 Central Regional Tournament schedule.
Thursday, May 17, 2018
Game 1 - No. 4 Rhodes (29-14) vs. No. 5 Franklin (38-3), 10 a.m.
Game 2 - No. 1 Webster (36-8) vs. No. 8 Thomas More (24-18), 1:15 p.m.
Game 3 - No. 3 Texas-Tyler (29-16) vs. No. 6 Aurora (30-13), 4:30 p.m.
Game 4 - No. 2 Wisconsin-Whitewater (31-6) vs. No. 7 Monmouth (Ill.) (28-12-1), 7:45 p.m.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Game 5 - Loser of Game 1 vs. Loser of Game 2, 10 a.m.
Game 6 - Loser of Game 3 vs. Loser of Game 4, 1:15 p.m.
Game 7 - Winner of Game 1 vs. Winner of Game 2, 4:30 p.m.
Game 8 - Winner of Game 3 vs. Winner of Game 4, 7:45 p.m.
Saturday, May 19, 2018
Game 9 - Winner of Game 6 vs. Loser of Game 7, 10 a.m.
Game 10 - Winner of Game 5 vs. Loser of Game 8, 1:15 p.m.
Game 11 - Winner of Game 7 vs. Winner of Game 8, 4:30 p.m.
Game 12 - Winner of Game 9 vs. Winner of Game 10, 7:45 p.m.
Sunday, May 20, 2018
Game 13 - Winner of Game 12 vs. Loser of Game 11, 12 p.m.
Game 14 - Winner of Game 11 vs. Winner of Game 13, 3:30 p.m. (Championship #1)
Monday, May 21, 2018
Game 15 - Winner of Game 14 vs. Loser of Game 14 (if necessary), TBD (Championship #2)
STORY COURTESY OF WEBSTER UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
