Indianapolis, Ind. – The St. Thomas Aquinas baseball team
has been selected as the No. 2 seed in the East Regional announced
by the NCAA on Sunday night. The Spartans are now one of 48 teams
left in Division II that will vie for a National Championship.
St. Thomas Aquinas, who captured their first ever East Coast
Conference Tournament championship and NCAA Tournament appearance
on Saturday, moved up one spot from last week’s regional
rankings into the second spot. With a record of 39-12 on the year,
the Spartans will have an opening round date with fifth seeded Pace
(32-15).
Pace, who was the Co-Champion of the Northeast 10 Southwest
Division during the regular season and was bounced from their
conference tournament by LeMoyne, make their first NCAA appearance
since the 1985 campaign. Pace and St. Thomas Aquinas have met once
before this year, with the Setters coming away with a 4-2 victory
over the Spartans on March 5.
Other teams in the East Region field are No. 1 seed and CACC
Champion, Wilmington, No. 3 and Northeast 10 Champion, New Haven,
No. 4 Southern New Hampshire, and No. 6 Franklin Pierce. Wilmington
is the only other school in the field St. Thomas Aquinas has faced
this season. The Spartans took two out of three from the Wildcats
in a season-opening series in late February.
Southern New Hampshire will serve as the tournament host for the
second consecutive season. The Penmen won the regional on their
home field a season ago to earn their first ever NCAA Division II
World Series berth.
The first pitch in tournament play will be on Thursday, May 16 and
will conclude on Sunday, May 19. The winner of the six-team
regional will advance to the NCAA Division II World Series at the
USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina,
which will be held from May 25 – June 1.
The complete tournament schedule will be released on Monday
morning.
To view the full NCAA release, click here.
