2019 NAIA Tournament Preview

The 2019 Avista-NAIA World Series begins on Friday, May 24. The tournament will be played over the course of a week, with the National Championship being played on either May 30 or May 31, depending on how many losses the two teams pick up in the rounds leading up to the championship.

The tournament will be held at Harris Field in Lewiston, Idaho. The World Series is a 10-team, double-elimination style tournament consisting of the nine NAIA Opening Round champions and the hosting team, Lewis-Clark State (Id.).

In last year’s tournament, Southeastern (Flor.) defeated Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.), 6-3, in the National Championship. Both teams managed to return to the tournament this year, with Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) joining Indiana Tech as the only two-seeds to advance past the Opening Rounds.

Lewis-Clark State (Id.) has played in five of the last six National Championships, winning three of them. The Warriors will be looking to claim their 20th National Championship in program history this year. No other program has more than four.

Bellevue (Neb.) was the only three-seed from the Opening Round stage to advance to the World Series. The one-seed and two-seed from the Shreveport Bracket, Oklahoma City and Louisiana State-Shreveport, were swiftly eliminated from the tournament without either team picking up a single win.

No. 8 Indiana Tech will face off against No. 9 Bellevue (Neb.) with the winner advancing to face No. 1 Tennessee Wesleyan. Similarly, No. 7 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) will play No. 10 Lewis-Clark State (Id.) while No. 2 Science & Arts (Okla.) awaits the winner.

The winners of No. 4 Faulkner (Ala.) vs. No. 5 Georgia Gwinnett and No. 3 Southeastern (Flor.) vs. No. 6 St. Thomas (Flor.) will advance to face the winners of the aforementioned Tennessee Wesleyan and Science & Arts (Okla.) games, respectively.

The tournament seeding is listed below. Seeds were determined by the NAIA Baseball National Selection Committee.

Note: OR indicates a team’s record in the opening round games leading up to the World Series, meaning that the host team would not have an OR record.

^ denotes the host team

No. 1 Tennessee Wesleyan 52-9, 4-1 OR

No. 2 Science & Arts (Okla.) 46-10, 3-0 OR

No. 3 Southeastern (Flor.) 51-10, 3-0 OR

No. 4 Faulkner (Ala.) 49-10, 3-0 OR

No. 5 Georgia Gwinnett 46-11, 3-0 OR

No. 6 St. Thomas (Flor.) 45-13, 3-0 OR

No. 7 Freed-Hardeman (Tenn.) 47-15, 4-1 OR

No. 8 Indiana Tech 41-14-1, 3-0 OR

No. 9 Bellevue (Neb.) 46-14, 3-0 OR