May 12, 2008

Grove City to make NCAA debut in New York Regional

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College baseball team will make its first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championship Tournament this week as the Wolverines have been selected to play in the New York Regional, hosted by Ithaca College in Auburn, N.Y.

Grove City (18-16 overall) is the No. 8 seed in the eight-team, double-elimination bracket and will play top-seeded Cortland State (36-3) in the quarterfinals Wednesday at 1:15 p.m. at Falcon Field. Grove City qualified for the NCAA Tournament after winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship Tournament Saturday afternoon in Cincinnati.

This is the first season that the PAC champion has received an automatic berth in the NCAA Baseball Championship Tournament. Grove City is the first PAC school since 1984 to participate in the regionals. That year, John Carroll went 0-2 in the Mideast Regional.

While Grove City is making its first postseason appearance of any kind in baseball, the same cannot be said for Cortland State. The Red Dragons won their fourth straight State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) title May 4 with a 12-5 win over Brockport State. Cortland State is making its 16th straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. That is the longest active streak in NCAA Division III.

Cortland State is currently ranked second in the country by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America and D3Baseball.com. The Red Dragons are the No. 1 team in the New York Region.

Wednesday's action will begin at 10 a.m. as fourth-seeded Montclair State (N.J.) plays No. 5 Eastern Connecticut State. Following the Grove City-Cortland State game at 1:15, No. 3 Rensselaer will face sixth-seeded Farmingdale at 4:30 p.m. Ithaca, the No. 2 seed, plays No. 7 Ohio Wesleyan at 7:45 p.m. in Wednesday's final game.

The double-elimination tournament continues through Saturday. If a second championship game is needed, it would be played Sunday at 1 p.m.

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