The St. Thomas Aquinas Baseball team opens the 2017 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship against Cal San Diego in Grand Prairie, Texas, at 4:00 pm.
Log onto STACAthletics.com Sunday for extensive coverage of the Spartans, including Live Stats, Live Broadcast Video & Audio. Also join the "Voice of the Spartans", Brad Sarno on Twitter for Spartans Game Day Live, as he covers all the action via social media, LIVE from Grand Prairie, Texas.
Click Here for NCAA Division II Championship Bracket
Click Here for Championship Central
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The Tournament - Each of the eight regional champions (listed below) have converged on Grand Prairie, Texas, with the double-elimination tournament to crown this season's National Champion having started on Saturday.
The Schedule - STAC plays UCSD in Tournament Game 3 on Sunday. The winner of that contest plays in Tournament Game 8 on Tuesday night at 8:00, taking on the winner of Game 4 between Colorado Mesa and Quincy. The loser of Game 3 plays the loser of Game 4 in an elimination contest in Tournament Game 7 at 4:00 on Tuesday.
St. Thomas Aquinas - The Spartans (42-15), seeded #3, trailed in their first two East Regional games before rallying to victory, but their two victories over top-seeded Southern New Hampshire followed a different script, with STAC winning by scores of 13-1 and 13-2. In sweeping their four regional contests, the Spartans outscored their opponents, 38-7. STAC earned its highest ranking of the season, standing at #16 in this week's poll.
This season, the Spartans won their 4th ECC Regular Season Championship in the past six seasons (2012, 2013, 2016); they have captured three ECC Tournament titles (2013, 2014, 2015); and are making their 5th straight NCAA Tournament appearance, which includes their East Regional Championship in 2014. This season marked STAC's third trip to the Regional Final in four seasons, as the Spartans fell to Wilmington in 2015.
Since the 2013 season, the Spartans have a 25-15 overall post-season record (12-6 ECC; and 13-9 NCAAs). That total includes an impressive 14-6 mark in games when facing elimination.
Cal San Diego - The Tritons (40-17) emerged from the West Region as the #4 seed, also winning four straight games in the seven-team bracket. Ranked #4 in the nation, UCSD ranks third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) in batting (.309) and team ERA (3.69), and second in fielding percentage (.973). UCSD leads the league in several offensive categories, including walks (272), doubles (110), home runs (51), home runs per game (0.89), runs (429), sacrifice flies (38), scoring (7.5 runs per game) and slugging percentage (.460).
2017 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship
hosted by Angelo State University
Airhogs Stadium - Grand Prairie, Texas
May 27- June 3, 2017
= Regional Champions =
East - St. Thomas Aquinas (42-15)
Atlantic - West Chester (PA) (40-11)
Central - Lindenwood (MO) (39-18)
Midwest - Quincy (IL) (37-21)
South - Delta State (MS) (44-11)
Southeast - North Georgia (46-10)
South Central - Colorado Mesa (48-10)
West - Cal San Diego (40-17)
Saturday, May 27
Game 1 - West Chester 9, North Georgia, 4
Game 2 - Lindenwood 4, Delta State, 0
Sunday, May 28
Game 3 - St. Thomas Aquinas vs. UC San Diego, 4:00 pm
Game 4 - Quincy vs. Colorado Mesa, 8:00 pm
Monday, May 29
Game 5 - North Georgia vs. Delta State (loser eliminated), 4:00 pm
Game 6 - West Chester vs. Lindenwood, 8:00 pm
Tuesday, May 30
Game 7 - Loser Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 4:00
Game 8 - Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 4, 8:00
Wednesday, May 31 (crossover)
Game 9 - Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 4:00
Game 10 - Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5, 8:00
Additional schedule to be determined by results of these games, with the National Championship contest scheduled for June 3.