Drury University baseball team

Drury University baseball team

The NCAA Division II Baseball Committee has selected the 48 teams that will participate in the 2015 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship.

The championship provides for eight regional sites hosting six teams. All regionals are double-elimination tournaments and will be played May 14-17. Regional champions will advance to the double-elimination championship finals May 23-30 at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, North Carolina. The finals will be hosted by Mount Olive and the town of Cary, North Carolina.

Seventh-seed Drury scrapped its way to a 3-2 lead, and senior Tyler Arthur – for the second straight day – then broke it open with a pivotal homer as the Panthers knocked off top seed Quincy 7-2 Sunday afternoon for their second straight Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship and automatic NCAA-II tourney bid.

Coach Scott Nasby’s Panthers (31-22-1), who’ve won 14 of their last 16 games, will now enter the Midwest Regional in St. Charles, Mo. (Lindenwood University) as the No. 5 seed in the six-team regional, and will take on No. 2 seed Grand Valley State on Thursday in the double-elimination event. The regional runs through Sunday, with the winner moving on to the NCAA-II World Series in Cary, NC May 22-30.

It will mark Drury’s third straight appearance in the NCAA tourney and second straight via automatic bid, after the Panthers continued their amazing late-season surge by knocking off a strong Quincy team in the finals for a second straight year.

William Jewell baseball

William Jewell baseball

For the first time since joing the NCAA, the William Jewell College Baseball team earned a spot into the 48-team NCAA Division II National Championship Baseball Tournament. The third-seeded Cardinals will play on Thursday against fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference opponent Truman State who is seeded fourth in the regional tourney. Times for the tournament will be announced later today.

The Cardinals will head to the Regional with an overall record of 37-17 and the Bulldogs finished the season at 31-20. The two teams split the four games they played during the regular season back on March 28 and 29 in Liberty.

For the first time in program history, the Truman Baseball team earned a spot into the 48-team NCAA Division II National Championship Baseball Tournament. The fourth-seeded Bulldogs will play on Thursday against the third-seeded William Jewell (Mo.) at a time to be determined.

Truman State baseball

Truman State baseball

The Bulldogs (31-20) and the Cardinals (37-17) split the four games they played during the regular season in Liberty. William Jewell won 4-3 and 5-4 while Truman won 6-5 and 6-4. The two teams did not play each other at the GLVC Postseason Tournament.

Missouri Southern advanced after the tournament after heavy rain in Kansas City, cancelled the final game in the 2015 MIAA Baseball Tournament. With both Missouri Southern and Emporia State having only one loss and Missouri Southern being the highest-remaining seed, the Lions were named tournament champs and named the MIAA’s automatic qualifier to the 2015 NCAA Baseball Tournament.

Click here for more on Missouri Southern.

Story and photos courtesy drurypanthers.com, trumanbulldogs.com, and jewellcardinals.com