BASEBALL

The Huntington University baseball team (26-14) learned earlier this evening that they will be packing their bags for Macon, Georgia, to compete in the 2019 NAIA National Championship Opening Round slated for May 13-16 at Middle Georgia State’ Luther Williams Field.

As the Crossroads League regular season champions, HU received the conference’s first automatic bid to compete in the tournament, the program’s fourth-ever berth to the big dance.

The format for the opening round is a double-elimination, five-team tournament at each of the nine host sites. The nine opening round champions join Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) at the 63rd annual Avista-NAIA Baseball World Series in Lewiston, Idaho, May 24-31.

Huntington received the No. 4 seed and will face 5th-seeded British Columbia (29-20) in game one on Monday. The three other teams in the bracket include Southeastern (Fla.), Middle Georgia State and Rio Grande (Ohio).

The opening round field consists of 32 automatic qualifiers – given to conference regular-season champions, tournament champions or tournament runners-up – and 13 at-large teams. Conferences with 10-or-more members receive two automatic qualifiers, while leagues with less than 10 get one.

More information about the Macon bracket will be released by the host school in the coming days. Visit their opening round bracket tournament page here.