BRYANT SELECTED AS NO. 2 SEED IN NCAA NORTHEAST REGIONAL; WILL FACE FIFTH-SEEDED DOWLING THURSDAY AT 2:30 P.M.

May 12, 2008

BRYANT SELECTED AS NO. 2 SEED IN NCAA NORTHEAST REGIONAL; WILL RETURN TO RINDGE, NH TO FACE FIFTH-SEEDED DOWLING

INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Division II Baseball Committee has selected the 48 teams that will participate in the 2008 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, as announced late Sunday night. The Bryant University baseball team, Northeast-10 Conference regular-season champs and tournament semifinalists, received a No. 2 seed in the Northeast Region, to be hosted May 15-18 at top-seeded Franklin Pierce University in Rindge, NH.

Each regional will be comprised of six teams competing in a double-elimination tournament, with eight regional competitions to be played May 15-18 at eight on-campus sites. Regional champions will advance to the double-elimination NCAA College World Series Championship, May 24-31 at GCS Ballpark in Sauget, Illinois, hosted by Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville and the University of Missouri, St. Louis.

Bryant, under third-year head coach Jamie Pinzino, makes its sixth NCAA appearance and second in as many years. The Bulldogs (39-19) will face No. 5 Dowling College (28-17), who earned a share of the East Coast Conference regular-season title before being eliminated in the first round of the conference tournament, Thursday at 2:30 p.m.

The Bulldogs and the Golden Lions each travel to Rindge, NH after receiving at-large bids into the regional.

The last time Bryant and Dowling met came in 2004, when the Bulldogs took 2-of-3 games from the Golden Lions to win the Northeast Regional Championship and earn a trip to the College World Series. The two faced off in the first game of the 2004 regional, with Bryant winning 4-0, before meeting again in the finals. Bryant fell in the first game, 14-4, only to come back and win Game Two, 4-2, to hand Dowling its second loss and advance to the NCAA Championship.

This is the fifth trip to the NCAA Regionals for the Golden Lions, who last appeared in the tournament in 2006.

Nineteen conferences receive automatic qualification into the 2008 championship. Each conference and its automatic qualifier are listed below: 

California Collegiate - Sonoma State
Conference Carolinas - Mount Olive
CACC - Caldwell
East Coast - C.W. Post
Great Lakes Intercollegiate - Grand Valley State
Great Lakes Valley - TBD (Inclement weather)
Gulf South - Delta State
Lone Star - Texas A&M-Kingsville
Mid-America Intercol. - Central Missouri
North Central - Nebraska-Omaha
Northeast-10 - Franklin Pierce
Northern Sun Intercollegiate - Concordia-St. Paul
Peach Belt - North Georgia
PSAC - Kutztown
RMAC - Nebraska-Kearney
South Atlantic - Tusculum
SIAC - Stillman
Sunshine State - Tampa
West Virginia Intercollegiate - West Virginia State

In the 2007 championship, Tampa claimed its fourth championship title by defeating Columbus State, 7-2.

The winners of each of the eight regionals will advance to the NCAA Division II College World Series Championships, May 24-31. This year marks the 41st annual championship, and the first year that the finals will be held in Sauget, Illinois.

Sites, regional rankings and pairings for all eight regions are as follows:

SITES/PAIRINGS:                            

Central Regional at Emporia, Kansas

1.   *Emporia State                                 48-8
2.   Nebraska-Omaha                           42-11
3.   Wayne State (Nebraska)                 40-11
4.   Central Missouri                             41-15
5.   Minnesota State Mankato               27-23
6.   Concordia-St. Paul                         27-14

North Atlantic Regional at Johnstown, Pennsylvania

1.   West Chester                                    41-14
2.   West Virginia State                           36-12
3.   Concord                                            35-13
4.   *Pittsburgh-Johnstown                  35-17-1
5.   Shippensburg                                    34-23
6.   Kutztown                                           30-24

North Central Regional 

Due to inclement weather in the north central region, the rankings will be released at noon, May 12.

Northeast Regional at Rindge, New Hampshire

1. *Franklin Pierce                                 38-12
2. Bryant                                                38-17
3. Southern Connecticut State               33-15
4. Caldwell                                             32-17
5. Dowling                                             28-17
6. C.W. Post                                           29-25

South Regional at Tampa, Florida

1. *Tampa                                             38-9-1
2. Tusculum                                            40-13
3. Catawba                                             40-16
4. Florida Tech                                     35-18-1
5. Carson-Newman                                 41-16
6. Stillman                                               26-24

South Atlantic Regional at Mount Olive, North Carolina

1. *Mount Olive                                       49-5
2. Columbus State                                  39-15
3. South Carolina-Aiken                         43-13
4. North Georgia                                    37-19
5. Belmont Abbey                                  40-20
6. Erskine                                               44-11

South Central Regional at Cleveland, Mississippi

1. *Delta State                                         45-9
2. Southern Arkansas                               44-9
3. West Alabama                                      45-11
4. Abilene Christian                                  43-15
5. Ouachita Baptist                                  43-14
6. Texas A&M-Kingsville                            31-29 

West Regional at Chico, California

1. Sonoma State                                     46-13
2. UC San Diego                                      41-16
3. *Cal State Chico                                  39-15
4. Cal State Stanislaus                            37-21
5. Western Oregon                                  39-17
6. Nebraska-Kearney                               33-25

*Denotes host institution